Papa Don't Preach
by LizzayMartini
Summary: What if the Montgomery family was trying to escape more than just Ali's disappearance when they left for Iceland? When Aria comes home from Europe, she has a much bigger secret than the other girls can imagine. Will follow the show and include A. R&R :
1. Prologue

**This idea was inspired by an episode of Private Practice in which Lucy Hale guest-starred as a teen mother. Will definitely be a multi-chapter, following as closely to the show's timeline as possible. Though to clear things up, in this story Aria's family takes a two year sabbatical as opposed to only a year. Each chapter will loosely follow an episode with minor(ok… MAJOR) additions to fit in with my storyline.**

**All rights to familiar characters belong to Sara Shepherd, Marlene King and ABC Family.**

"Oh, shit." Were the first words to escape Aria Montgomery's mouth as she held in her hand the results of a test that would change her life forever. Life changes seemed to be the only thing this summer would bring. Only one month ago Alison DiLaurentis, one of her four best friends, had disappeared into thin air, causing heartbreak and fear to run rampant throughout her hometown of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. She and her three other best friends, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields, had already begun to drift apart in Alison's absence. She had, after all, been the one to bring the five of them together at the beginning of seventh grade. She and Spencer had already been fairly close, but Hanna had rarely spoken to anyone and Emily seemed to only care about her swimming until Alison had invited each of them over for a sleepover. That sleepover would be the first of many, and would begin a friendship amongst them that would be almost impossible to replace. In fact, it was at one such sleepover that Ali had gone missing.

Aria couldn't remember what exactly had happened that night, only that Spencer had returned to the barn scared, saying that she couldn't find Ali anywhere. The four searched and searched the woods surrounding the Hastings and DiLaurentis home, but were unable to locate her. For several days after her disappearance Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily were all but harassed by the police, answering the same questions over and over again, only to be informed that there were no leads and that their help was much appreciated. After the girls had each been ruled out as suspects, they began to speak less and less, leading Aria to seek comfort elsewhere, and now there she stood with three positive pregnancy tests in her hand.

For a few brief moments, her mind and body felt numb. It was as if she were having an out-of-body experience, as if she were watching herself and not actually being within her own body. She, Aria Montgomery, was pregnant. Pregnant, at thirteen and three quarters. Tears began to form in her eyes as the reality of her situation began to truly sink in. As if things weren't already going from bad to worse, what with Ali's disappearance and the disintegration of her parents' marriage, she would be giving birth to a child in less than nine months. She would be giving birth to a child before she was even old enough to drive! She glanced back down at the tests to make sure what she was seeing was accurate, but there were the three pink plus signs that sealed her fate. She looked at herself in the mirror and watched as her tears fell freely from her eyes.

"Put on your big girl panties, Aria." She told herself. "You don't have time to act like a cry baby when there's an actual cry baby on its way."

*PLL*

"Well, Aria, you're only about 5 weeks along now. I can give you a more accurate date in a few more weeks, but I would say you're due around mid-to-late March." The doctor paused before continuing. "Have you told your parents yet, Aria?"

Unable to form words right away, Aria simply shook her head. The day she'd taken the tests she'd called Planned Parenthood to set up an appointment, wanting to keep it hidden from her parents until she knew for sure that she was with child. Now that she had solid proof, she knew she couldn't keep the secret for much longer.

"What about the father?" Again, Aria shook her head. If she could help, no one would even know who the father was. Even if she had to start her own rumor about being a whore, she had no intentions of ever speaking to or seeing _him_ again.

"Do you plan on telling them? I don't mean to pry, but I know that at your age something like this is certainly unexpected, and I just want you to be aware of all of your options. I can provide you with any and all information you would like, but I strongly recommend discussing this with your parents, or another adult that you trust. And if you're considering one of the options over the other two, you will need to speak to the father."

"I don't have any options." Aria whispered, as she felt another wave of tears take over. "I can't give it up, and I can't kill it. My parents will probably kill me, but I just can't. And I don't want him to know, I've already ruined my own life, I can't do that to his, too."

"Well…" Dr. Herron pulled out a card from her pocket and handed it over to Aria. "I will need to see you again in about a month, then. The number to my private office is there as well as my cell if you have any questions at all, please call me. I know you think you don't have any options, but just give yourself a few weeks to think it over, ok?"

Aria nodded and accepted the card as well a prescription for prenatal vitamins before leaving the clinic and beginning to walk back home. On the way she considered how exactly she would tell her parents. They would be furious, of course, but she knew they would have to accept it eventually. What else could they do, really?

*PLL*

"Say something… please?"

Aria sat at one end of the dining room table as her parents sat slack-jawed at the other end and her younger brother, Mike, sat across from her looking as white as a ghost. She hadn't intended to tell them just yet, but over dinner a wave of nausea had rushed over her and when she returned to the table her parents asked if she was feeling alright.

"Maybe she's knocked up!" Mike had joked, earning him a smack on the head from their father, Byron, and a deer caught in headlights look from his sister.

"Aria?" Ella had asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm so, so sorry!" was all Aria could muster as she began to wail uncontrollably. She'd expected them to yell, to scream, something. What she did not expect was the silent stares she was receiving now. It took several more moments for either of them to speak and when they did, Aria realized that she hadn't thought of how she'd answer her father's question.

"Who is the father?" the calmness in Byron's tone almost frightened Aria. Bad news and calmness were not a combination she had ever seen in her father. The question, though, had gone unanswered long enough for him to raise his voice. "Did you hear me, Aria? Who the hell is the father?"

"Byron, please let her talk…" Ella placed her hand on her husband's forearm, urging him to relax before the world imploded, only for him to shrug her off and rise to his feet.

"Dammit, Aria, what were you thinking, having sex at your age? You're thirteen years old, for Christ's sake!"

"Mike, I think you need to go upstairs." Ella muttered to her son, who gladly obliged as quickly as his feet would allow. Aria watched him ascend the staircase before turned back to her father's glare and her mother's now glassy eyes.

"I'm sorry." She repeated. "I didn't mean for this to happen, it just did. After Alison disappeared-"

"Don't you _dare_ use that as an excuse, young lady! We raised you better than to be a sl-"

"Byron!"

"Ella, don't tell me you're alright with this?" Byron turned to his wife, who shared the same frightened expression as his daughter. "She isn't even in high school and she's already spread her legs for some guy and gotten knocked up!"

"Of course I'm not alright with it!" Ella yelled back. "But she has been through absolute Hell this summer, would you please just listen to her!"

"Daddy…" Aria cried. "I'm sorry."

"No," Byron said, his voice suddenly returning to a calm level. "You're not. If you were, this never would have happened. I have never, Aria Nicole, been so ashamed of you."

With that, he threw down the napkin he had been holding in a vice grip for the past several moments and stormed out of the house.

"He hates me…" Aria cried into her mother's arms as Ella rocked her back and forth.

"He could never hate you, Aria." Ella whispered. "But, what did you expect? This is possibly the worst thing your father and I could have ever wanted for you." They sat there for several minutes, crying together before Aria finally pulled away and looked her mother in the eyes for the first time.

"Why aren't you taking off, too? Why aren't you yelling and screaming and hating me like Dad?"

"Because," Ella wiped a tear from her daughter's cheek with the pads of her thumbs and brushed the hair from her face. "I have always told you that you can tell me anything and I will love you just the same. Am I disappointed? Absolutely. But yelling at you, and refusing to listen to you isn't going to make this go away, even if we all wish it could."

"I'm so sorry, Mommy."

"I know, baby."

*PLL*

"She's not having an abortion, Byron."

"Well, I'm not letting her bring that kind of shame onto our family, Ella. We don't even know who the damn father is!"

"But we can't force her into making that decision. When she is ready she will tell us, but until then we need to learn to accept that she wants to keep this baby."

Arias sat at the top of the stairs listening to her parents argue in the den. It had been nearly three weeks since they accidentally discovered that she was pregnant and her father had yet to speak to her about anything. Her cell phone and laptop had been taken away from her, her parents even screened the house calls she received, limiting her to the few and far between calls she had gotten from the other girls as access to the outside world. Her father, though not speaking to her, had made it clear that he was bound and determined to make this problem go away without anyone outside of their family unit knowing. Her mother had been shocked at first, but overall had been very patient and understanding, which was a huge relief for Aria who had expected the absolute worst from both parents.

"I still don't see how you can just accept this!" Byron shouted. In the beginning, the two had spoken in hushed voices that Aria could scarcely hear, but the more days that passed the less her father seemed to care if she heard him.

"I don't want to accept it!" Ella retorted. "But it's not my body; I'm not in control of this situation anymore than you are. We did raise her to be better than…_ this, _but we did not raise her prepared to lose her best friend in the entire world at thirteen. We thought she was fine after Alison went missing, but clearly she wasn't because she sought comfort with someone else. And believe me, I have grilled her over who that someone is, but she doesn't want us to know! She's confused and she's scared, Byron, just like we are. The difference being that she is a child, _our _child, and we are her parents. We are supposed to love her, and accept her and protect her. Clearly we failed at the last bit, and now she needs us more than ever, Byron. If you force her into something she clearly doesn't want, we are both going to lose her forever."

Aria truly felt blessed that her mother was remaining as calm as she was about the situation. She had heard her mother crying when she thought no one else was around, and she knew that inside this was killing her, but not once had Ella forced her into talking when she didn't want to, nor did she yell or scream at her the way Byron had. Aria hated hearing her parents fight this way, but deep down she knew that Ella was right. If she aborted, she would hate Byron forever. If she gave her own child away, she would hate him and herself forever. This was truly a no-win situation for everyone. At times like this she considered calling him, telling him what was going on, but she refrained. He was long, long gone by now.

"If she doesn't abort, then I'm taking the sabbatical and this family is going." Byron said firmly. "I will not be made a fool in front of our neighbors and friends, and I will not have her harassed by her peers about something like this. We're going somewhere where people don't know us if she's so damn insistent on keeping this mistake."

Aria felt an enormous weight being lifted from her shoulders then. A few days before the big reveal, her father had announced that Hollis College had offered for their family to take a two year sabbatical in Iceland, which Byron had initially responded to with a "let me discuss this with my family." Perhaps, Aria thought, if they left the prying eyes and ears of Rosewood, he could learn to accept that she was going to be a mother, and he a grandfather.

*PLL*

Aria and her family had been back in Pennsylvania for less than three hours and Aria was already beginning to feel homesick for Iceland. They were just pulling up to their old home on Starling Court when the toddler in the car seat beside her finally lulled off to sleep. Elliot Michael Montgomery was now nearing eighteen months old and the light of the Montgomery household. Everyone who had encountered him in Iceland had made sure Aria knew that he was most definitely her spitting image, and she thanked God for that. She wasn't conceited in the least, but it comforted her to know that he was her mirror-image, and not the sperm donor whose name wasn't even on Elliot's birth certificate.

In the past two years, she'd had to give up a lot and grow up very fast, but it was worth it to have this funny, charming, healthy, and absolutely perfect little boy in her life. Her parents had been very firm on the "he's your baby and your responsibility" front, and Aria could not thank them enough for it. Her mother had been a huge help when it came to continuing her education, and Aria had even gotten a weekend job to help her parents pay for Elliot's expenses. But, when it came to waking up with him five times a night while he was teething, or changing him when he had diarrhea, or taking him to his doctor's appointments, Aria had been on her own. It was obvious that Ella and Byron adored their grandson, but Aria only knew that she was a good mother because they didn't hover. They let her raise her son as she saw fit and let her learn from her own mistakes.

She only regretted that the moment they had landed in Pennsylvania she would no longer be known as his mother. Her parents had decided that henceforth, they would claim that Elliot was their son, forcing Aria to face her old peers as a liar. She knew they had only her and Elliot's best interests at heart, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

After her father had parked, Aria gently unbuckled Elliot and removed him from his seat, carrying him up the steps and into the familiar house with his head resting on her chest. The movers had followed the family from the airport and had already begun to unload things into the house. Thankfully none of the large furniture had made the trip to Iceland, thought Aria, as she carried her son (_brother _now, she reminded herself) to her old room and laid him down softly on her old bed. He looked so peaceful, like a little cherub, while he slept. And really, he was somewhat of an angel when he was awake, too. Aria had done a pretty job with him so far, if she did say so herself.

"We're home, baby." She whispered as she kissed him on his forehead and stared at the four walls she hadn't seen in exactly two years, wondering just how different life in Rosewood would be with the newest member of the Montgomery family present.

**So, it's a bit short, I know, and it's pretty fast-paced, but this is just the prologue. I'm currently writing my version of the pilot, which will include more details of the Montgomery's time in Europe. Details about Aria's pregnancy, as well as who the father of her child is, will be revealed later on. I've been sitting on this idea for a while now and I'm very excited about it! Please R&R and let me know what you guys think **


	2. Pilot: Part 1

As the movers finished bringing in all of the boxes to Aria's bedroom, she examined herself in her full-length mirror, wondering if the people of Rosewood would be able to tell that she'd had a baby. She was quite thin, to be honest, and had lost all thirty pounds she'd gained with Elliot. Her hips did have more curve to them and her bust was slightly larger than when she was thirteen, she decided, but she wasn't sure if that was a dead give away that she looked like a "mommy".

"Aria, are you ok?" Aria turned around the see her mother standing in the doorway. She stepped away from the mirror and began to actually take in her bedroom. The wallpaper was the same, the ceiling hadn't gotten any taller, her window seat still faced the back yard. It was the same, but different all at once.

"It's just so weird to be home." Aria answered, looking back at Elliot as he continued to nap.

"We've been gone for two years," Ella stated, stepped into the room. "When you're sixteen that's a long time."

"Well, when you have a kid it's just seems to fly on by." Aria paused before continuing, finally tearing her gaze from the sleeping toddler. "I still think about her every day."

Ella smiled softly. Aria didn't speak of Ali's disappearance often, but she knew that it still plagued her daughter constantly to feel so helpless. "Why don't you call your friends? They don't know that we're back from dad's sabbatical."

Aria rolled her eyes slightly, diverting the conversation back to Alison. "On the news they're calling it 'The Anniversary of Alison's disappearance', like it's a… party or something."

"Why don't you give them a call?" Ella asked again and when Aria nodded slightly towards Elliot, Ella shook her head. "You five were inseparable; those feelings don't just go away."

"I need a ride to lacrosse!" Aria's brother, Mike, shouted as he ran past her bedroom, clearly aggravated by something. She smiled as Ella made an annoyed faced and handed her her cell phone, something she hadn't had access to since she found out she was with child.

"I'll take him." Aria grinned, accepting the phone from her mother excitedly.

"And I'll watch Elliot." Ella agreed, standing up to pick her grandson up from the bed. "Come on, handsome, Uncle Mike needs help!" she cooed, coaxing him to wake up.

Aria and her mother headed downstairs, where Aria grabbed her jacket, purse and the car keys so that she could drive her brother to Rosewood Day.

"You have lacrosse today?" Byron asked as he dug through several boxes label 'living room'.

"It's the first tryouts and all my stuff is in, like, a hundred boxes!" Mike shouted back, digging through another box labeled 'kitchen.'

"A hundred?" Ella questioned sarcastically, now carrying Elliot on her hip.

"You know what I mean."

"Come on, let's go look in the garage." Ella gestured for Mike to follow her as Byron approached Aria, cup of coffee in hand.

"Hey, I, uh, know that moving back here brings up a lot of memories for you… are you ok?"

"I'm still keeping your secret, ok, Dad?" Aria shot back hastily. She glared at her father before adding in a hushed voice. "Both of them."

Byron's eyes fell to the ground. It was no secret that his daughter was still hurt by the fact that for nearly a year he referred to her child as a mistake, and didn't even hold Elliot until he was over three months old. Not to mention the fact that he was all but forcing her to pass the boy off as her little brother now that they were back home. He was ashamed of himself for it, but there was yet another secret Aria had been keeping for him for the past two years.

"I.. What I meant was…" he said, clearing his throat. "Are you ok with Alison?"

A sad look crossed Aria's face, a look that told him he should know she wasn't ok, and how could she be? Her missing best friend's face was plastered all over their hometown, 'still missing' posters on nearly every street corner. The moment of sadness was short-lived, however, as Mike and Ella chose then to reappear. Aria quickly kissed Elliot on the cheek and then followed Mike to the car, leaving their parents on the front porch.

*PLL*

Aria and Mike drove in silence for a few minutes before he spoke up.

"So… you're really going along with what Dad wants?" He asked tentatively, keeping his gaze straight ahead of him. The siblings had grown much, much closer over their time in Iceland, but already Mike could feel Aria slipping away, and he knew exactly why.

"I don't really think I have a choice." Aria responded as she turned onto the street that the school was on. "Pregnant at thirteen is disappointment enough, don't you think? Making them face the world we know as grandparents would be torture for them. Never mind what it would do to me, or even Elliot."

"Yeah, but you're the one who had to deal with his BS all this time." Mike looked to his sister. Her eyes were glassy but they never left the road. "You do everything you can for El, why should he get to take that away from you?"

They pulled up to the school just then, saving Aria from his questions. He was right, of course, but she understood why her parents wanted this for her. She'd had to grow up fast in Iceland. Here in Pennsylvania, she was just a normal sixteen-year-old, and her parents wanted that for her. They loved her, and this was their way of showing her that. As Mike got out of the car, she leaned over and called after him.

"Hey! What time am I picking you up?"

"Like, six?"

"Alright. I'm gonna grab some food!" Mike nodded and then took off with the various other athletes to lacrosse tryouts and Aria was left alone with her thoughts. She glanced at the clock, and seeing that it was only 4:15, she pulled out her phone and considered dialing one of her old friends' numbers. What would she even say, really? 'Hey, guys, sorry I disappeared without really saying goodbye. It's been two years but I'm back now, let's hang!'? Finally she decided that she would just see them at school the next day. Before closing the phone, she sent a text to her mom asking if she could send a picture of Elliot, that she missed him already and would be home after Mike's practice ended. She then pulled away from the curb and headed into town to find a place to eat.

*PLL*

"Can I get a cheeseburger, please?"

"You got it."

Aria looked around the old Hollis Bar & Grill as she waited for her order. There was all the typical bar stuff; sports flyers, lists of what drinks were on special each night of the week, but there was also a bulletin board with various handmade flyers from customers. One in particular caught her eye. It was another 'missing' poster of Alison DiLaurentis, with a tag line stating that she would be sixteen now… if she were alive. The idea that it had been two years with no sign of Ali killed Aria, and she felt that sadness that she rarely allowed to get the best of her come crashing down.

"You alright down there?"

Aria turned to find the most piercing pair of pale blue eyes she'd ever seen. He was young man, in his early twenties it seemed. And there was no denying that he was an extremely attractive guy.

"I'm a bit jet-lagged, I, uh, just got back from Europe." She replied, looking away. Blue eyes were somewhat of a weakness for her. He turned back to the book he had with him and began flipping through some of the pages when he spoke again.

"Where in Europe?"

"Iceland." She gave him a curt smile and looked away quickly, hoping he would stop asking questions so that she would have a reason to stop talking to him. Her stomach was already starting to do flip flops and she didn't even know this guy's name. Between coming back home, the secrets she's been forced to keep, and Elliot, she could not handle these types of feelings right now.

"I've spent some time in Reykjavik, before I went to Amsterdam. It's a great city." He smiled shyly at her and she couldn't help the butterflies that were floating around inside of her. She knew that she shouldn't get involved, she had only just started to gain her parents' trust back again, but she couldn't stop herself.

"So, do you go to Hollis?"

"Just graduated. I'm getting ready to start my first teaching job."

"Yeah, I… I think I'd like to teach." This seemed to intrigue the young man even further, as he continued to smile and nod. She could feel the blush creeping into her cheeks when a new song filled the airwaves. She recognized it immediately as 'Happiness' by The Fray and she let herself get lost in the music for a moment. "God, I love this song,"

"B-26." She turned to him and their eyes locked. Something she'd never felt before was beginning to stir inside of her as they stared at each other. She knew he was older, and she shouldn't be thinking these thoughts about him, but there was just something different about the way he was looking at her. No one had ever looked at her like that before, and she knew it was something she could get used to.

"What's your major?" It took Aria a moment to realize what he was asking. Clearly he thought she was much older than she actually was. Had being a mom aged her more than she thought? He waited for an answer and she recovered from her momentary lapse in thought.

"Um, well, I, uh, I'm leaning towards English." Not exactly a lie, she thought to herself.

"That's what I'm teaching!"

"And I write, too!" Aria added, before she realized that she was getting fairly personal with this guy who was basically a stranger. "But so far it's mostly personal. You know, just for me."

"I'm impressed."

"Why?" Her smile faltered for a moment, wondering if he actually cared that she was a writer, or if he was just saying what he thought she wanted to hear.

"Well, I_ tried_ writing." He stood from his barstool and slid his book and Scotch down to the spot next to hers before sitting back down. "I didn't get very far. You're lucky; if you're writing for yourself, it's pure passion. Maybe you'd let me read some of yours?"

"Yeah! You really want to?" Aria's smile was back, she could tell he was definitely being sincere. She took great pride in her writing, and for someone to want to read it, and the fact that she wanted them to… it just didn't happen very often.

"Yeah. You're smart, you've travelled… great taste in music." Aria giggled and once again could feel her cheeks begin to burn, but her smile just grew wider by the second. She knew nothing could come of this, but she couldn't deny the spark between the two of them. "I'd like to know more about you."

She hesitated for a moment. That definitely indicated that he was interested, right? And it's not as if she weren't interested, but what could she really do about it? She started high school again tomorrow. _High school._ She was sixteen. She had a child, for goodness sake. She didn't have time to get to know someone that way, especially not someone who didn't even know she was sixteen, let alone sixteen with a toddler. But still, after a few moments she found herself grinning widely and answering,

"Yeah, I'd like to know more about you, too."

"I'm Ezra." He reached his hand out and she took it.

"Aria."

"Aria…" he repeated and she decided then and there that her name had never sounded better than it did coming from his lips.

Somehow or another they ended up together in the women's bathroom, with him standing between her legs as she sat on the counter top. She could get lost in this, she knew. Lost in his kiss, in his touch, his scent. It was wrong, so wrong, she knew. This is how she'd gotten little Elliot in the first place, after all. One thing leading to another, and all that. But this… this was different. This felt right. This wasn't the result of depression after a loss, and looking to feel alive again. _This was pure passion_. Still, though, she found herself doubting her self-control for a minute and pulled away. He smiled at her and she shook her head, knowing that they shouldn't be doing this, and yet she still threaded her fingers through his curly hair and pulled his lips back down to hers.

They continued this way for hours it seemed, when her phone began to buzz in her jacket pocket. The first time, she ignored it. She figured it wasn't time yet to pick up Mike, and her parents had the baby. After three rings she reluctantly pulled away and excused herself as she looked at her phone, hoping that it wasn't her mother calling about the baby. One missed call and text from Mike and a picture message from her mother. She took this as her sign that this is where things with Ezra needed to end. It had been fun, amazing, even, but her brother was waiting and so was her son.

"I'm so sorry." She said quietly, jumping off of the counter and straightening her hair and dress. "I have to pick up my little brother."

"Wait." Ezra started, but Aria leaned up and pecked him quickly on the lips and rushed out of the bathroom and out to the parking lot. It was just a one-time thing, she told herself, as she rushed to Rosewood Day. It was great, but nothing could come of it. Nothing.

*PLL*

When she and Mike arrived home, her parents were in the kitchen and there were two boxes of pizza on the counter along with a pack of paper plates and plastic Solo cups. Elliot was in Ella's arms, crying hysterically as she bounced him and whispered comforting words to him.

"Come on, Elliot, look whose home!"

"Hi, baby!" Aria took her son from her mother and covered his face in kiss after kiss. "Did you miss me? Because I missed you!"

"As soon as you were out the door he started crying and he hasn't stopped yet." She could tell Ella was exhausted, but this is what her parents had wanted. She could be Mommy all she wanted within their home, but no one outside of that was to know that Elliot was her son. That meant leaving him with his grandparents without her supervision from time to time.

"Sorry, Mom." Aria apologized as she held her son close to her, doing her best to calm him. "He's still cranky from the plane ride. I'm sure he'll be fine tomorrow after he's had a good night's sleep."

"Don't worry." Ella rubbed her daughter's shoulder. "It's nothing I can't handle. I just hope he's able to adjust soon. I hope we all are."

Aria nodded before grabbing a plate and carrying Elliot upstairs to her room. In the two and a half hours that she'd been gone her mother had unpacked most of Elliot's things and had set up his new bed. Now that he was walking and getting into everything, Aria had decided it was time for him to have a big boy bed instead of a crib and he definitely seemed to agree. It was shaped as the character Lightning McQueen from Disney's_ Cars_, Elliot's current movie obsession.

"You like your new bed, baby?" Aria pointed to the bed excited as she put him down and watched him toddle over to it and climb up.

"Bed!" Elliot shouted excitedly, throwing his hands into the air enthusiastically. "Bed, bed, bed!"

"Yeah," laughed Aria. "That's your big boy bed!"

"Bed!" Elliot repeated himself and burst into a fit of laughter.

"Yeah, your bed." Aria smiled at her little boy and couldn't believe that he was already a year and a half old. It seemed like it was just a few hours ago that he was holding his 8 pound, 13 ounce, 21 inch long, bloody, mucus-covered body for the first time, and now he was going to be sleeping in a big boy bed. "Come on, buddy, eat some pizza so we can take a bath and go to bed."

"Bubbo?" Elliot asked, standing up on his bed.

"Yes, you can have a bubble bath but you need to eat something first." Elliot scrambled off of the bed and took the small piece Aria had broken off of her slice of pizza and gobbled it up as she continued to break it into pieces small enough for him to chew. When he was full, he wiped his hands together in a back and forth motion, letting Aria know that he was all done. She dug through a box labeled 'Elliot's Clothes' and dug out some pajamas as well as a pull up from the diaper bag before turning back to him and saying cheerfully "Bath time!"

"Bubbo!" Elliot echoed, just as cheerily. "Bubbbbbbbooooooo!"

She led him across the hall into the bathroom and helped him undress as she drew his bath water and added his Cars bubble bath. "Look, El, bubbles!"

She allowed him to play with his bath toys for a few minutes before taking a sponge and cleaning his body and face, and then washing his dark, curly hair. Every time she went to pour water over his head to rinse him off, he covered his eye and squealed dramatically before giggling.

"What did I do to deserve such a happy kid, huh?" Aria asked her son quietly as she finally pulled him out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel. "You are such a good boy. Mommy is going to hate being away from you for so long every day."

After she had read to him three stories and he was finally starting to doze off, Aria reached over and began to run her fingers through his hair as she sang to him.

_I'll love you forever  
>I'll like you for always<br>As long as I'm living  
>My baby you'll be.<em>

*PLL*

The next morning, Aria awoke an hour earlier than normal. She'd been having the strangest dream… She and Elliot had been at the park when suddenly Ezra approached them. Elliot had jumped up from the sandbox and ran to Ezra, calling out "Daddy!" excitedly. There was someone else watching them in the distance, but before Aria could make out his face, she'd shaken herself awake. After taking a refreshing shower, she dug through her closet to figure out what she wanted to wear. After much debating, she finally settled on a burgundy colored tank top with a funky striped sweater along with a pair of black jeans and light grey boots. Today, Aria Montgomery returned to Rosewood.

Careful not to wake Elliot, Aria returned to the bathroom to dry and apply her make up. Since her clothes were always quite dramatic, she never really felt the need to go heavy with her makeup. And truth be told, she didn't have much more than 30 minutes to get ready at any given time with Elliot running around. She was a bit worried today, tough. He would be with Ella, yes, but she'd never left him for 8 straight hours before. Even at her part-time job in Iceland, the longest she'd ever left him was five hours.

After she'd finished curling her hair, she slipped back into her room and laid out an outfit for her mother to dress Elliot in when he woke up in a couple of hours. She could hear her brother and father bustle through the house as they, too, got ready for the day and she knew she would have to leave soon.

"Elliot…" She said his name softly in a sing-song voice, hoping he would hear her but not wake up. She just hated hearing his cries every time she left. "Mommy's got to go now. You're going to be with Nana while I'm at school and it's going to be so fun! I'll call you at lunch, I promise." She kissed his forehead and then stood up, grabbing her book bag and leaving her room.

When she came into the kitchen, her mother handed her a thermos with fresh coffee in it and Aria gulped at it hungrily.

"He's still sleeping, but he should be up in an hour or so." Aria began to prattle on about Elliot's morning needs. "When he wakes up, take him to the potty. I really want him out of pull-ups by the time we finish this pack. He'll stop crying sooner if he has applesauce with his pancakes. I threw out his pacifier so if applesauce doesn't work, maybe you could sing to him to calm him down and-"

"Aria!" Ella chuckled as she interrupted her daughter. "I know. You forget, I've done all of this before, with you. He's just like you; I think I can handle this. You go have a good day at school." Aria hugged her mom and kissed her on the cheek as she followed Mike and Byron out the door.

As they pulled up to Rosewood Day, Mike practically flew from the car but Aria wasn't quite fast enough.

"Hey, wait."

"Look, it's the first day; I don't want to be late." Aria knew she sounded annoyed, but truthfully, she could only take so much time alone with her father these days.

"I love you, Aria." Byron stated. "I love you and Mike, and Elliot. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"And you know that I love your mom."

"Do you?" Aria questioned. She knew that everything their family had been through, she was pushing some limits here, but he was the one that continued to bring up this subject.

"I made a mistake, ok?" Byron replied. And when his daughter raised a knowing eyebrow at him, he quickly added "A couple of mistakes where our family is concerned. And I will be sorry about it for the rest of my life. I just hope that someday you'll be able to really forgive me."

"I hope so, too." Aria said shortly before exiting the car and watching her father drive away. She wished he would stop reminding her of what she, and Alison, had witnessed more than two years ago. It hurt too much to know that she'd been keeping such a big secret from her mother, who had been so wonderful to her.

"Aria?" She whipped around quickly to see the familiar face of one of her former best friends.

"Emily?"

"When did you get back?" Aria reached up and hugged her friend solidly. She truly had missed having girl friends, especially Emily, Hanna and Spencer.

"Yesterday." She answered as they began to walk towards the school.

"I almost didn't recognize you!" Emily admitted. "I think the last time I saw you, you had pink stripes in your hair."

Aria remembered that phase. It was almost embarrassing really, but it was good to see that Emily hadn't really changed over the past two years.

"Yeah, well, when your parents want you to be yourself and you don't know who you are…" Aria giggled at the memory of her pink hair

"You wore it well." Emily said with a smile "You should have called. It's so weird just running into you here."

"Well," Aria struggled with her words for a brief moment. "We kind of lost touch, Emily, remember?"

"Maybe that's what we had to do." Emily agreed and Aria could see that Emily was still mourning, too.

"I saw a poster of Alison yesterday."

"It's awful." Emily interrupted. "I mean, we all know she's dead, right?"

Aria felt her heart stop for a moment. Of course that thought had crossed her mind thousands of times, but to hear Emily say it with such conviction was unnerving. Emily had been the most attached to Alison, the one that they all called Killer because she was always quick to defend Alison at any cost.

"I've just never heard anyone say it before." Aria replied as they walked up the steps and into the familiar hallways. Well, not so familiar to Aria, as she'd left right before they began Freshman year, but they had all dreamed of what it would be like to walk these halls. Of course, those dreams included Alison, but that went without saying.

As the two entered their first period AP English classroom, Emily turned back and smiled at Aria.

"So, I hear our new English teacher is really hot."

Aria smiled at this as she took the seat beside Emily and began to take out a notebook and pen. She turned back to the door to see a slender, blonde girl enter. She looked vaguely familiar in her face, she thought, but…

"Is that Hanna?" She asked Emily incredulously.

Emily glanced in Hanna's direction and nodded. "She's the 'it' girl now." Another girl followed closely behind, causing Emily to add "Well, there's Hanna and there's Mona."

"That's Mona?" Aria whispered.

"Can you believe it?" Emily responded with a knowing smirk.

"Talk about a makeover." Aria said. Hanna turned slightly in their direction so she raised her hand to wave. When Hanna merely rolled her eyes and turned away, she turned back to Emily. "What's up with her? Are you two fighting?"

"We didn't just fall out of touch with you, Aria." Emily stated matter-of-factly. "We all fell out of touch with each other."

Just then another familiar face walked into the classroom, and the smile she sent Hanna's way she recognized immediately as a fake one.

"They're not so close anymore, either." Emily commented as Spencer took her seat at the front of the class.

"So they're friendly, but not friends." Aria replied and Emily nodded in agreement. The bell rang just then, so Aria opened her notebook and began to write her name and the date in the upper right hand corner. She was bound and determined to have an excellent academic year. She'd done well in her home school course work, but she had distractions. That was another reason she was going along with her parents' arrangement; so she could finish her education and provide for Elliot on her own.

She was lost in her thoughts when she felt several pairs of eyes on her. When she looked up, everyone in class was eyeing her suspiciously, and with good reason, too. There at the front of her class, at his first teaching job, was Ezra.

The classroom was silent as they stared at each other, both with a panicked expression on their faces, when suddenly her phone began to ring.

"Sorry." She mumbled as she dug through her bag to silence it.

"Uh, I'm Mr. Fitz, your new English teacher." Ezra began, but Aria was completely zoned out for the rest of his introduction as she read the message she had just received.

_**Aria: Maybe he fools around with students all of the time. A lot of teachers do. Just ask your dad. –A**_

Aria felt her stomach drop as she read and re-read the message over and over again. How had someone known about yesterday? And even scarier than that, how did anyone know about her dad's affair? She'd only shared that secret with one other person…

"Alison?"

*PLL*

The remainder of the day passed by in a blur. She had two more AP classes with Spencer, Gym with Hanna, and study hall last period with Emily. Even if they weren't exactly speaking, it was somewhat of a comfort to have their familiar faces surrounding her. Her mind continued to wander back to the text she had gotten. Could it really be Alison? It wasn't as if anyone had ever actually found her body. Was she simply playing a huge joke on the citizens of Rosewood?

After school, Mike had lacrosse and her father was still in class so Aria had opted to walk home, using this private time to replay her day in her mind. First, the fact that her one-time thing with Ezra was no longer a one-time thing. She never would have imagined that when he said he was starting to teach English that he meant he would be teaching at Rosewood Day! And the look on his face when he saw her told her two things: that he felt the way about her that she was beginning to feel about him, and that he knew as well as she did that they really couldn't pursue this now. She could also see that in finding out that she was a high school student, and not the college student she allowed him to believe she was, he had been betrayed. If she had honestly believed she would ever see him again, she would have been completely open with him. Now, she had ruined any chance of something more with him.

She was a block away from her house when her phone rang, again. Glancing at the caller I.D., she flipped it open quickly.

"Mom, is everything ok?"

"Are you almost home?" Ella asked desperately and Aria could hear why. In the background her son was screaming 'No mommy! No mommy!'

"I'm down the street, what happened?"

"We'll talk when you get home."

Aria practically ran the rest of the way and through her front door. The second she was inside she could hear her son's shrieks coming from the kitchen. When she stepped into it, her mother was putting groceries away while Elliot sat on the floor crying. She bent down and picked him up.

"Mommy's home, baby." Almost instantly his cries halted. After he had calmed down, Aria sat at the table and waited for her mother to join her. "So what happened?"

"Well," Ella began, searching for the right words to say. "I ran into Ashley Marin at the grocery store today. And when she saw Elliot of course she asked. I told her that I found out shortly after arriving in Iceland that I was expecting, the story we've all rehearsed. And when Ashley called me mommy, he started screaming."

"Oh my god…" Aria hoped their cover hadn't been completely blown. Not that she worried about herself, she could care less if the whole world knew that she had a baby, but she knew how bad it would make her parents look and they just weren't ready for it. "What did Mrs. Marin say?"

"Nothing, thank God." Ella said quickly, not wanting Aria to panic. "She said Hanna went through a phase just like that when she was a toddler, which she understood. But I've spoken to your father, and we think it's best if we move Elliot into his own room."

"What?" Aria could think of nothing else to say. Since he had been born, she and Elliot had been in the same room. Most nights he even ended up sleeping in bed with her instead of his own. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if he continues to act like that, people are going to become suspicious, Aria." Ella explained. "The only time he doesn't cry is when you're around. We just think he will become more accustomed to being raised by us if he becomes less attached to you, and that starts with him sleeping in his own room."

"But that's not fair!" Aria could feel the tears welling up into her eyes. Her mother had always been supportive of Aria being Elliot's parent. That had even been part of their agreement when they returned to Rosewood, that she was Elliot's mother when they were at home. "_I _am his mother."

"Not in Rosewood, you aren't." Ella said flatly. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You know that your father and I are only looking out for your well-being as well as Elliot's. It's only until you graduate high school."

"If you didn't want me raising him at all, why didn't you just adopt him when he was born?" Aria raised her voice and shook her head in disbelief. Her parents were really trying to take her baby away from her after all this time. "By the time I graduate, he won't be calling me Mommy anymore. If Dad has his way, Elliot will really believe that you two are his parents by then."

"Aria…" Ella put her hand on her daughter's shoulder only for her to shrug it off and storm off. She carried Elliot upstairs and laid down with him in what would soon only be her room.

"Don't worry, baby." She whispered, rocking him back and forth on her bed. "I'm not going to let them take you from me. I will always be your Mommy. Nana and Papa just need some time to see that. But they'll come around."

**Thank you for the reviews that I've gotten so far! It means a lot to me! I've decided to split this episode/chapter into two parts, trying to put it all into one is just driving me crazy. And let me tell you, when you watch an episode over and over again, you notice some interesting things! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Up next, Aria confronts Ezra, Ali is found, and Aria's father takes a step in the wrong direction… again. Stupid Byron. Enjoy **


	3. Pilot: Part 2

The next morning Aria had arrived at school as early as possible, hoping that Ezra would be in his classroom by now and that she could talk to him about the day before. After her father had moved Elliot's bed and other furniture into the guest room down the hall, and Elliot had been put to bed, she had cried for hours in her room. After an hour or so, her thoughts drifted to Ezra, how right it had felt to kiss him, and touch him and just _be _with him two days ago. It took an entire night of arguing with herself the pros and cons, but when it came down to it, Aria knew she had to be with him. You don't make a connection like they had and just ignore it. And if her parents were going to take the only person she loved more than life away from her, she was going to have something else that she desperately wanted.

When she approached his classroom door, she peered at him through the glass for a few moments. He was deep in concentration, making notes and highlighting excerpts from an essay on his desk and she almost walked away. He cared so much about his work, that was obvious and this would destroy his career if they were caught. But still… Aria knew she needed to take this chance. She quietly let herself in and closed the door behind her. Ezra had to do a double-take before finally speaking.

"You told me you went to Hollis." He said with an accusatory tone in his voice.

"No." Aria corrected with a slight grin. When he didn't return it she knew it wouldn't be easy to persuade him that their relationship could work. "I said I was thinking about majoring in English, which is true!"

"Look, I think you're amazing, Aria." Finally Ezra's lips were starting to turn up into a smile. "When I first met you I thought 'who is this girl?'"

Aria caught herself smiling at this. That fire was still there in his eyes. She tentatively took a step forward, placing her hand over his and holding on tightly. It was as if electricity flowed out of him and into her and she could tell he was feeling it, too.

"I'm still that girl." She told him reassuringly. "Nothing's changed."

"Yes, yes it has." He said, glancing back at the door behind her. "I'm your teacher."

"I know it's not just me!" Aria replied quickly, sensing the regret in his voice. "You feel like this is right for us, too!"

"But it's not right." Ezra's eyes dropped slowly to where she had her hand over his before he pulled away. "We just can't."

With that he stood up and left the classroom. She stayed behind for a few minutes, not sure what else to do. Was there anything she could do? The only thing to do now was move on.

*PLL*

Aria watched from across the table as her mother tried to get Elliot to eat his green beans and failed miserably. He kept throwing them to the ground and laughing when Ella got frustrated with him. She really wanted to laugh at the scene, but that would only encourage Elliot's behavior. For the most part, he was a very well-behaved baby, but you sometimes had to just let him play with his food if he was expected to eat anything. When she'd gotten home that day, Elliot hadn't cried all day. According to Ella, she had distracted him quite well and he had a great time playing and reading and painting with his Nana. This was a comfort, but it was also heartbreaking. Already her little boy was getting used to her being gone for so long at one time.

A knock at the door drew Aria from her reverie and she watched her father rise to his feet to answer the door.

"Is Aria home?" she heard Emily's voice ask and by the time she turned around her father was leading her into the house. She stood up and walked over to the only of her old friends who was speaking to her.

"Hey, Em. What's up?" She glanced over at her family and could see the questions on Emily's face as she stared at Elliot. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to see if maybe we could talk about some stuff?"

"Stuff…?" Aria drew the word out, wondering what "stuff" Emily could possibly want to talk about that couldn't wait until school the next day.

"Stuff." Emily said seriously, and Aria nodded. The two walked onto the porch and sat on the porch swing side by side. "What's up with the baby? He's adorable. He looks a lot like you."

"My baby brother." Aria blurted out. "My, uh, mom found out she was pregnant just after we moved to Iceland, and now we have Elliot."

"I thought your mom couldn't have anymore kids?"

"What do you mean?" Aria's heart rate immediately doubled. Had her mother had a secret hysterectomy that everyone else knew about? Had her parents not thought their story through all the way? Oh God…

"Well Mike's already, what? Fifteen?"

"Fourteen." Aria interjected.

"Well, that would mean he was twelve when your mom got pregnant. That's kind of a huge age gap; I guess just assumed it would only be you and Mike, sorry."

"Oh." Aria stared at her hands awkwardly, unsure where to take the conversation from there.

"I'm sorry for just stopping by." Emily apologized. Aria shook her head in protest. If Emily was the only friend she would reconnect with, she could stop by at three A.M. unannounced if she wanted.

"Anytime, Em." She patted her friend lightly on her leg. "You know that."

Emily turned away for a moment. Aria could see that she was uncomfortable, but knew that Emily would talk when she was ready. "Somebody left a note in my locker."

Aria felt her heart stop and her eyes grow wide. So she wasn't the only one getting messages from Alison? "Was it from 'A'?"

"You, too?" Emily responded immediately.

"Do you really think it's her? I mean, is it possible?"

"Only Alison could have known." Emily insisted, and it struck Aria that perhaps she wasn't the only of her former friends to have a shared a private secret with Ali.

"Could have known what?"

Emily took a few moments to formulate an answer and whatever it was, Aria could see that she was struggling with it. Just the way she had been struggling with her secrets for the past two years.

"It was…"

"Personal?" Aria supplied. Emily nodded, and gave a tight smile.

"I really believed she was dead."

"Yeah! Yeah, we _all_ did."

"Could she really be back?"

"I think she's playing with us."

"But why would she do that?" Emily asked in disbelief. Aria knew she would have trouble seeing the dark side of their old friend.

"This is Alison we're talking about, here!" Aria exclaimed. 'The Queen of the Lying Game', she added in her head. "I mean, wasn't that her favorite sport?"

Emily only hesitated for a split second before answering "Should we tell someone?"

Aria thought this over for a moment. Telling someone meant her mother finding out that she had known about her father's affair and kept it from her. Which could lead to the entire town of Rosewood discovering Elliot's true identity before her parents were ready. She glanced back to window looking into the dining room before she returned her attention to Emily.

"I don't know about you, but I can't."

The two sat there in an awkward but still eerily comfortable silence for a few moments, soaking it all in. They were both being harassed by someone, and that someone knew secrets that only Alison had kept. Maybe coming back here was a terrible idea, Aria thought to herself. First she was forced to keep her beloved son a secret, then the one person she had started to feel a true connection with had turned her down, and now this? Reykjavik sounded so sweet right about now.

"I'm glad your back." Emily finally said, looking at Aria intently and she couldn't help but give her friend a small smile.

"You know it's funny," Aria considered her current situation, coupled with the lukewarm reaction she'd gotten from everyone at school besides Emily. "Even though I grew up here, I feel like a total outsider."

"Me, too." Emily replied firmly and reassuringly. The two looked at each other and Aria knew that she meant it. In that moment, she wanted so much to just tell Emily everything. Everything about what had happened while she was in Iceland and about Elliot and her dad. But, she kept her mouth shut and they sat on the swing for a few quite moments, swaying in the early September breeze.

"Aria?" The girls whipped their heads around immediately. "Hello, Emily."

"Hi, Mrs. Montgomery." Emily waved shyly.

"Aria, I could really use some help with your brother. You know how much he _loves_ you these days." Ella said sarcastically. "Emily, would you like to come inside for a few minutes? We're going to ice cream for dessert."

"Oh, no thanks, I really need to get going." Emily stood up and brushed off her skirt. "It was really good talking to you, Aria. See you at school?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Aria stood up quickly and hugged Emily tight. "I'm glad you came over. Call me when you get home?"

"Yeah." Emily agreed as she waved goodbye to Ella and headed off down the front steps on the Montgomery porch.

"So what did Emily want to talk about?"

"Nothing major," Aria fibbed. "Just catching up and stuff. Don't worry, she's not that up-to-speed." She added the last bit upon seeing the look of terror on her mother's face. "What do you need help with?"

"Elliot's getting fussy again, and with me starting work and him starting daycare tomorrow I really need him to get to bed soon."

"Well…" Aria stated, thinking over what she and her mother had discussed just the afternoon before. "Since we're in Rosewood territory, and you and dad have decided that my son needs to be detached from me, maybe you should handle this one on your own, _Mommy_."

Ella's jaw dropped and Aria stormed past her into the house. She hated that Elliot cried for her and she was right there, but he did start daycare tomorrow. Maybe he needed to get used to others responding to him. Aria never wished more than she had in the past 24 hours that she and Elliot could just be on their own. He was always happy when it was just the two of them, especially back home in Iceland. Ever since they'd been in Rosewood all he wanted was her, and it killed her that she couldn't always be with him. Before going upstairs to her room she stopped in the kitchen and kissed Elliot on the forehead.

"Nana's gonna give you a bath and then read to you, and then you're going to go to bed, ok?"

"Ya." Elliot's fussiness had ceased as he played peek-a-boo with Mike, laughing hysterically each time his uncle revealed his face.

"Aria, what's wrong?" Byron stood from the table, uneasiness to his voice.

"Nothing." Aria replied evenly. Her eyes were burning hot from the tears threatening to spill out, but she held her composure. "Nothing at all, Daddy. Your_ son_ needs to be put to bed."

She marched up the stairs and into her bedroom, shutting the door soundly behind her. She began to pace, unsure how to cope everything that had happened in the past 48 hours. She'd returned to hole-in-the-wall Rosewood, met the love of her life, lost the love of her life, had her son moved into a room down the hall, practically given up all of her parental rights, and she'd been harassed by some mysterious 'A'.

"Aria?" Byron opened her bedroom door and Aria felt the immediate urge to throw something at him.

"Knock, much?"

"Look, I know you don't understand why your mother and I are doing what we're doing, but one day when you grow up you'll understand."

"When I grow up?" Aria mimicked. "When I grow up? I don't know if you realize this or not, Dad, but I grew up a year and six months ago when I gave birth to my son! I grew up because I had to! It was my choice to have him and to keep him, and it's been me, by myself, raising him this entire time!"

"By yourself, huh?" Byron smirked. "Who has been providing for Elliot financially, hm? Because as I recall, you didn't even start your part-time job until he was close to six months old. And as I recall, I was the only person in our home bringing in a paycheck for quite sometime before that as well. You may have given birth to him, but you have not been the only person raising that child, Aria."

"That's not fair." Was it true? Yes, but Aria had done everything that she possibly could for Elliot at the time. "That's not fair and you know it."

"You know what's not fair?" Byron's voice began to rise and Aria felt her hands clenching into fists. "The fact that our daughter that _we_ raised came to us at thirteen and told us she was pregnant. What's not fair is that we had to up and move your younger brother so that we wouldn't have to worry about what this town would say about us and you if they ever found out. What's not fair, Aria, is that everyone in this family has suffered because of your mistake."

"My son is NOT a mistake!"

"No, he's not." Byron agreed. "But the fact that your mother and I thought we could trust you to make the right decisions in life clearly was."

"Can you please get out?" Aria's anger out weighed her pain in the moment as she shoved at her father until he was just outside of her door before slamming it shut in his face and turning the lock. Thankfully her parents had returned that privilege as well when they returned to Rosewood. She heard her phone ringing from across the room and rushed to it, thinking Emily was calling and feeling the need to vent to her.

"Hello?"

"Aria? …Is that you?"

"Spence?" Aria's face broke into a smile. She and Spencer had always been the closest of the five when they were younger, and it had made her quite sad that Spencer hadn't reached out to her during one of their classes. But then again, Spencer didn't reach out to anyone when class was in session. "Is that _you_?"

"Yeah." Immediately Aria knew something wasn't right in Spencer's voice. She sounded almost broken.

"What's wrong?"

Spencer's voice cracked and Aria could tell she was crying when she said, "They found Alison's body."

"I'm on my way."

*PLL*

After she had parked her car amongst those of the other spectators and reporters, she looked around frantically for Spencer, or even Emily. Finally she spotted Spencer standing alone under a street light down the road. She began to power-walk towards her, looking over her shoulder in disbelief at the scene that was unfolding. When she was right in front of her, she could see that Spencer's face was completely drained of color, like she'd seen a ghost. Aria stood beside her and they both watched as the police wheeled a body bag from the DiLaurentises backyard.

"I heard Hanna got taken to the police station today." Spencer said shakily. Aria felt her eyes grow wide as she turned to Spencer.

"You don't think she'd talk about-"

"The Jenna Thing?" Both girls turned to see that Hanna had joined them. "We made a promise."

The three stood there for what felt like hours before they finally spotted Emily, clinging to Maya St. Germaine, the girl whose family had moved into the house over the weekend.

"Emily!" Aria called out, rushing to her and not caring whether the other two followed or not.

Emily turned in her direction and bolted. Aria, Spencer and Hanna surrounded her, each of them embracing each other as they let the tears fall down.

"She's really, really gone."

*PLL*

Before any of them knew it, it was Saturday morning, the morning of Alison's funeral. Aria had gone through the past three days completely numb. She and her father had un-spokenly made up for the time being, but the only things Aria could bring herself to think about was the fact that Ali was confirmed dead, and the fact that Elliot had cried for her every night while she cried for Ali. She'd arrived sooner than the other girls and had retreated to a small landing at the top of the church stairs for some privacy. She watched as people began to file in, even saw Emily and Spencer's family offering words of comfort and sharing hugs down below. Her moment to herself didn't last very long. After a few minutes she heard footsteps ascending the stairs. Looking to her right, her heart stopped. There was Ezra (Mr. Fitz!) approaching her. He must have been watching her, no one else had seen her come up here.

"Was she a friend of yours?" He asked. Aria looked back out the window and rolled her eyes.

"Do you care?" She asked, looking back at him. Ezra looked up to the ceiling in frustration for a moment before speaking.

"I don't know what I feel worse about." Ezra looked to his feet, a sense of regret playing across his face. "Having to stay away from you, or being a jerk about it."

Aria stepped away from the glass and stood directly in front of him. Slowly she looked up and locked eyes with him, that fire in her belly rising up again. "Yeah, she was one of my best friends."

"I'm sorry."

"For Alison or for being a jerk?"

"Both."

"Thank you." Aria didn't know how else to respond to that. His eyes, those intense blue eyes, told her he was being sincere with her and it only made her feel worse about pushing him for more, knowing what the consequences would be. "I would never want to do anything that would get you into trouble."

Ezra smiled tightly, and Aria almost regretted her words. It was obvious that he still had feelings for her, just like she still had feelings for him. But this was the right thing to do, as hard as it was. Standing on her tip toes, she gently placed a kiss on his cheek before lowering herself and looking him in the eyes sadly.

"Goodbye, Ezra."

As she began to walk away, she felt him grip her arm firmly and pull her back to him. Before she could process what was going on, his lips were on hers. Just like that, the spark was re-ignited. She didn't know what this kiss meant for them, but she was desperate for it not to end. She pressed one hand to the back of his neck, pulling him as closely as possible to her as his hands caressed her hips. The kiss quickly turned from feverish to gentle as he placed hand on her cheek and brushed gently with the pad of his thumb. Their lips parted for a brief moment and she knew that they needed to stop. It was hard enough seeing him in class every day and having to pretend she didn't know what his lips and hands felt like; she couldn't let him build up her hopes by kissing her like this. She moved the curls off of his forehead before quickly pulling her hand away. She tore her eyes from his gaze and made her way downstairs to join the rest of Ali's mourners.

When she walked through the main entrance of the church, a tall blonde-haired woman she hadn't seen in two years was speaking with Pastor Rob and holding his hands tightly.

"Mrs. DiLaurentis?"

"Aria!" Mrs. DiLaurentis exclaimed, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm so glad you came!" The woman bent down and hug Aria as tightly as possible and she couldn't help but return the hug with the same enthusiasm. "I've asked the other girls to sit up front together; it's what Alison would have wanted."

"Of course." Aria agreed with a smile. The five of them had been absolutely inseparable; of course Ali would have wanted them to sit together. She made her way to the front of church. As she stared at the beautiful black casket that contained Ali's body and the large framed photograph next to it, a hand reached out and grabbed her hand, causing her to jump. When she saw that it was Hanna, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Wordlessly the three girls moved over to make room for her and Aria sat down.

"For Ali." Emily said.

"Can you believe what a scene this is?" Hanna asked with a smile.

"Alison would have loved it." Aria agreed.

"Popular in life and death." Spencer added. Hanna looked over at her and noticed the still pained look on Emily's face. She reached into her clutch and pulled out a flask, handing it to Emily. Aria's phone began to ring and she fumbled with her bag to get it out, annoyed that she'd forgotten to turn it off. Flipping it open she saw that it was just her mother, letting her know that she would be there for her when the funeral was over.

"Anyone we know?" Hanna questioned.

"No it's just my mom sending me a text." When Aria looked up and saw the looks on Hanna and Spencer's faces, she knew what they were expecting. "Emily and I aren't the only ones who got messages from 'A', are we?"

"Look!" Spencer whispered. "It's Jenna." The other three turned and saw Jenna Marshall being escorted into the church, large black sunglasses covering her eyes. They weren't the only ones that noticed; everyone in the church was whispering as the blind girl made her way down the aisle. As Jenna took her seat, the four turned to face the front of the church. "What is she doing here?"

*PLL*

As they exited the church arm-in-arm, they were stopped by a police officer. Hanna tensed up considerably, Aria noted, possibly this had been the officer that had arrested her a few days prior.

"Emily, Spencer, Aria and Hanna?"

"Do we know you?" Spencer asked

"My name is Detective Wilden, I understand you all were good friends with Alison."

"Yeah, we were." Aria said firmly. Why else had they been sitting in the front row with the rest of the DiLaurentis family in the church?

"I'm going to need to speak with each of you."

"We spoke the police when Ali went missing."

"And I intend to go over each of your statements in full." Wilden said quickly. "This is no longer a missing person's investigation: this is a murder investigation. And rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer."

The four girls watched in horror as the officer walked away. Murder? Well, obviously Ali didn't die of her own conviction, but were they suspects now? And if the police were getting involved again, could they uncover….

"Do you think he knows about the"

"No, of course not, how could he?" Hanna interrupted. At that moment, all four of the girls' cell phones began to erupt with noise. They stared at each other wide-eyed as they reached into their purses.

"Oh, my God." Aria breathed out.

"It's from"

"I got one, too." Emily cut off Hanna as they each read the haunting message they had just received.

"I'm still here, bitches." Spencer read aloud. They all spared a glance at one another before continuing in unison.

"And I know everything. A."

**I am SO stoked about the response from last chapter! But, sad to say, after this chapter I'm not going to be following the show as closely as I've tried to with this chapter. As for all the questions about when people will find out about Elliot… let's just say certain people are already suspicious. And Ezra will DEFINITELY find out soon enough! But who will find out first? Ezra or the girls? *HINT HINT: The more reviews I get for this chapter, the sooner you'll find out.* Who's ready for some PLL tonight? EZRIA REUNION FTW!**


	4. The Elliot Thing

Aria had officially been back in Rosewood for a month now and she was starting to feel restless. A week ago she'd gotten a note in her copy of To Kill A Mockingbird that indicated this 'A' person knew about Elliot and the fact that she couldn't be in Rosewood with her son without someone finding out was making her crazy._**"Like mother, like brother. Isn't that right, Aria? – A.**_**"** the note had read. It was on a Post-It, attached to the photograph Aria kept of herself, Elliot and Mike as a bookmark. Her first thought had been who had her locker combination, and her second thought was 'holy crap'. For the most part, all of A's notes had been related to Ezra, or her father's affair, but this was the first time Elliot had been the subject and the idea that someone had found her out was terrifying. Especially if her parents found out that others knew.

The week before, Ezra had asked her to stay after school to go over a story she'd written, and it had ended in a heavy-make out session after which Aria had received a text reading _**"Loose lips sink ships. Remember that next time you're kissing his. – A".**_ Between the stress of her family, A, figuring out what she and Ezra were exactly, and trying to reconnect with her old friends again, Aria was driving herself absolutely insane.

But, it was Saturday. That meant she had the entire day to do as she pleased, and since it was Elliot's half-birthday, she wanted nothing more than to spend the day with him outside of Rosewood, just the two of them. After getting herself dressed and throwing her hair into a messy bun, she tip toed down the hall into Elliot's bedroom. She dug through his dresser, pulling out a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Elliot, wake up, baby." Aria shook him awake gently, picking him up and carrying him into the bathroom. "We're going to the zoo, we have to get ready."

After Elliot had used his potty chair and was dressed, she put the toddler toothpaste on his toothbrush and the two brushed their teeth together, Elliot laughing as he watched himself in the mirror. As soon as they were done rinsing, Aria went back to him bedroom and put together a bag before carrying him downstairs.

"I'm taking Elliot to the zoo!" Aria announced as she led the toddler to the door, car keys in hand. She'd officially gotten her American license the day before, which meant she had her mother's old Jeep, the spare care, all to herself.

"Wait, what?" Byron stepped into the foyer. "By yourself?"

"Yes." Aria said evenly. "If it's not in Rosewood, what does it matter? You want me to lie to everyone in this town, that's one thing, but I'm not going to let Elliot forget who I am or think that I've forgotten him. So I am taking him to Philadelphia Zoo for some mother-son bonding time."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Well, no offense, Dad, but I didn't ask you." Aria said, taking a firmer grip on Elliot's hand. "You don't let him sleep in the same room as me anymore… mom is the one that takes him to and from daycare… You don't even let me put him to sleep at night, isn't all of that confusing enough for him? Since he's been born I've been the absolute best mom I can be and you know it. Can't you just let us have this?"

Byron stared into her pleading eyes for a long moment. How could he not see how much all of this was hurting her? And Elliot was just happier when they got to spend time together, why was this so wrong to Ella and Byron?

"Fine." Byron finally agreed, waving her off. "But be home in time for dinner, please."

"Thank you, Dad." Aria said almost breathlessly. Releasing Elliot's hand for a moment she walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

"Come on, baby, we're going to the zoo!"

"ooo!" Elliot cooed back, stomping his feet with excitement.

After she had him secured in his car seat and had adjusted her mirrors, Aria pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the freeway. Philadelphia was only a half hour drive from Rosewood, but was a big enough city that nobody there could possibly know who she was. It was the perfect place for her to take Elliot without getting odd looks from her neighbors.

"You excited about going to the zoo, handsome?" Aria asked glancing into her rearview mirror to look at him. Elliot clapped his hands and began to giggle in response. "Yeah, we're going to see all kinds of animals. Elephants, and tigers, and monkeys!"

"Keeee!"

"Yeah, I know! Monkeys!" Aria laughed at her son, happy to see his smile again. Maybe her parents didn't see much change, but she could tell it was affecting him that they weren't able to spend as much time together as they were used to. "I'm sorry it seems like I haven't been around a lot, Elliot. But I want you to know, it's not going to be like this forever. Nana and Papa really want the best for us, and they don't want other people to treat us badly because Mommy had you so young. The world can be a cruel place, and they're just trying to protect us. But I love you so much… you know that, right?"

She knew, of course that Elliot couldn't really understand a lot of what she was saying, but she needed to know that he knew she loved him. Even if he didn't have the words to answer back yet, she had to make sure she told him why everything in his world was changing the way it was. And she understood her parents' motives (or at least her mother's), she really did, it just didn't seem fair that it should hurt as much as it did.

Eventually came upon the exit she knew would take them straight to the zoo parking lot and merged off of the freeway. After finding a parking spot, she got out of the car and walked around to the back to unload Elliot's stroller. Once she had it opened and locked into place, Aria reached into the back seat and unbuckled Elliot, strapping him into his stroller before locking up the car and turning the alarm on.

"We're here, baby boy!"

*PLL*

The two had just strolled through the reptile house and were heading towards the aviary when Aria spotted Ezra coming the zoo's front entrance. The fates really seemed to have it in for her lately. She spun Elliot's stroller in the opposite direction and began to walk away, hoping that she hadn't been spotted.

"Aria!" _Dammit_, Aria thought to herself as she stopped to compose herself. When she was sure she had herself together, she turned around and smiled brightly.

"Hey, Mr. Fitz!"

"We're not at school, you know." Ezra grinned as he approached her. "You can call me by my first name."

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Aria fumbled over her words, flustered that she'd come to Philly to escape the residents of Rosewood, and the one resident she wanted to see and couldn't had to be the one she ran into today.

"Well…" Ezra drew out, peering around Aria to glance at the stroller she was pushing. "My brother's daughter wanted me to join them at the zoo this weekend and by the time they called to tell me plans had changed, I was already in the parking lot so I figured why not."

"Oh." Aria said flatly. She didn't even know he had a brother, much less a niece. "Well, I really need to get going. Lots to see today!"

"Is this your… brother?" Ezra nodded in Elliot's direction, a questioning look in his eyes.

Aria could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she struggled to find the words. She wasn't in Rosewood; here she didn't have to be Elliot's much older sister. And with Ezra… she just wanted to share every part of her with him. He hadn't made it a huge secret what his feelings for her were, but would those feelings remain if he knew? There was only one way to find out, she decided. She bent over and unbuckled Elliot, lifting him out of the stroller and onto her hip.

"This is Elliot." She paused, hoping he would catch on and she wouldn't have to say it out loud. When his eyes grew wide and he remained perfectly still, she continued cautiously. "My son."

"Y-your son?" Ezra stuttered, clearly unsure how to handle this news. "You have a baby? But you're only-"

"Sixteen? Yeah, I know." Aria replied. She watched as the color drained from Ezra's face but if they were really going to try to make this work, and she didn't know if he intended for them to, he at least needed to know the truth. "After my friend Ali disappeared my friends and I grew apart and one night at a party I was just… _missing_ her, and this guy… he had all the right words to make it go away and well, nine and a half months later I had Elliot."

"Is this some kind of joke, Aria?" Ezra quipped, chuckling as he did so. "Is this some kind of test?"

"Joke? No." Aria kissed Elliot on his forehead and held him to her chest. "Test? I don't know. I just know that I can't get you out of my head and I know you feel this… whatever it is between us, too, but we can't do anything about it if I keep this from you. Do I wish I had waited a few years? Absolutely, but I would never joke about something like this."

"Aria, I'm sor-"

"You don't have to be sorry, Ezra." Aria cut him off. "I know how this must look to you. And it's ok if you don't want anything to do with me now, but I just couldn't keep this from you. No one else knows, but I always want to be honest with you."

"Like you were honest with me at the bar that first day?" The corners of Ezra's mouth lifted into a slight smile and Aria suddenly felt like she could breathe again.

"Definitely not like that." She laughed. "I just want you to know me."

"I do know you." Ezra protested.

"No, you know the 'at school' me. You know the 'girl at the bar' me This?" Aria said, nodding her head towards Elliot. "This is me. And I want you to know _this_ me. If you want to know this me, that is. And if you don't then this thing going on between us needs to stop now."

Ezra stood quietly for a while, looking back and for between Aria and Elliot contemplatively. Eventually, he reached over and placed a hand on Elliot's back.

"Do you want to hold him?" Aria asked hopefully. Ezra's eyes widened and she could tell he was startled by the question, but he still reached out and accepted Elliot as Aria handed him over. "Say hi to Ezra, Elliot."

"Is the father… involved?" Ezra asked as he bounced Elliot on his hip, smiling as the toddler giggled.

"He doesn't even know." Aria had made sure of that. Once they were in Iceland and Aria had already given birth, her parents finally gave up asking about it. "He doesn't need to know."

"So you've been doing this alone this whole time?"

"Not alone." Aria clarified. "I mean, obviously I have my parents. They're the ones posing as Elliot's mom and dad now that we're back in Rosewood. They've been a huge help. But other than that… yeah, it's just me and E."

"He's beautiful, looks just like you." Ezra stated, and Aria grinned. Seeing Ezra with her son really was like a dream come true. Ezra laughed and played with Elliot comfortably enough that it took Aria by surprise when he handed the toddler back to her. "He's clearly a very happy child."

"Yeah." Aria couldn't take her eyes off of Ezra, watching him as he watched her. "Yeah, he is."

Then, the awkwardness returned. He'd just met her son, and seemed to be alright with the fact that she was a teenage mother, and yet he was standing there watching her in an almost scrutinizing manner, trying to make sense of the situation that had just been laid out in front of him.

"So…"Aria finally said awkwardly as she put Elliot back into his stroller. "Would you like to walk over to the aviary with us?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Ezra replied, glancing around the zoo to see if they had an audience of any kind. Aria glanced around, too, and though no one was watching she got the hint.

"Ezra-"

"Aria, I don't think we need to give people something to talk about just yet." Ezra gritted his teeth. Despite the bitterness in his voice, Aria could see the conflict in his eyes.

"There's nothing for them to talk about here!" Aria realized that her voice had raised an octave or two and she waited until she knew she could speak without shouting. Lowering her voice to just above a whisper, she continued. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in; I know that. But I _know_ there's something between us, something I never imagined could even exist. I also know that this is more of a risk for you than it is for me, and I've only raised the stakes. But I'm not ready to give up hope for us if there's still a chance that you want me. If you need time to figure everything out, that's fine. I never expected dating with a toddler to be easy, but can we just be here, please? Can we just enjoy the fact that nobody here knows this is wrong and let it feel right? And if you find this isn't for you, that you can't handle dating a sixteen year old who has a kid, then we can go back to Rosewood and you'll just be Mr. Fitz and I'll just be another girl in class that thinks you're amazing. And that'll be that."

She was almost begging, she knew. And if this were any other guy, she'd be embarrassed of herself. But this was _Ezra_. This was something she knew she would regret missing out on if she didn't take the chance now.

"You could never be just another girl." Ezra said evenly, and Aria couldn't tell which side of the fence he was leaning towards by the statement. He locked eyes with her and his gaze was burning into her soul. She could see that he probably wasn't even sure what his decision would ultimately be and that scared her. "I might need some time because you're right; this is a lot to take in. But even if we try and fail miserably at… this," he gestured between the two of them. "You will never be 'just a girl' to me, Aria."

"So where does that leave us?" Aria asked, already drained from their conversation. One minute he was saying he didn't think it was a good idea and the next he said something like that. It was like trying to keep up with a tennis match between Spencer and Melissa.

"I think, for the time being." Ezra began, taking a slight step towards her and smiling as he slipped his hand into hers. "It leaves us heading for the aviary to get a look at those birds."

The smile that broke out across Aria's face was so wide it hurt her ear lobes. She could handle that, for the time being.

*PLL*

They were sitting in the zoo's outdoor eatery, sharing a plate of chili cheese fries – regular fries and apple slices for Elliot – before either of them spoke again about the new information that had been introduced to the relationship.

"So, there is a father out there somewhere." It wasn't a question, and the way Ezra had said it Aria knew that he hadn't asked whatever it was he was fishing an answer about yet.

"There is." She agreed.

"Can I ask you something?" Ezra seemed almost embarrassed; his cheeks were flushed and he wasn't looking her in the eye.

"Anything." Aria reached her hand out, placing it over his and giving him a reassuring smile when he raised his gaze to meet hers.

"Why doesn't he know about Elliot? He didn't… I mean, you weren't…"

"No." Aria supplied. Clearly he didn't want to say the word 'rape' out loud, and she was thankful for that. Many times since she'd found out she was pregnant, she considered making such a claim, but it always came back to the fact that she just couldn't do that to him. So, instead she just insisted that he was out of the picture, that it had been a cousin of one of her schoolmates in town for a visit. It took some time, but eventually her parents accepted the fact that Aria didn't want them to know who the father was. "No, I wasn't raped. It was consensual. He was older, though. Old enough to be charged with rape regardless of what I say happened. So I just never told anyone who he was. It's better for everyone that way."

"Do you think he would see it that way if he knew?"

"I don't know." Aria said honestly, shaking her head. She really had no clue what would happen if Elliot's father ever knew the truth. "I try not to think about it, though, he's long gone now."

"So what?" Ezra leaned back in his seat, handing Elliot an apple slice that was just out of the baby's reach. "He didn't see you around town one day and think 'Oh crap, she's pregnant' and think it was possible that he was the father?"

"No." Aria laughed at the scenario Ezra had painted for her. "He didn't have the chance. I was only about 9 weeks along when my dad shipped us off to Iceland and he'd taken off a few days before that."

"So you were in Iceland from then until Labor Day?" Ezra seemed much more relaxed now than he had when he'd initially begun to ask about Elliot's father. "So nobody in Rosewood knows? Nobody at all?"

Aria shook her head, no.

"Not even your friends?" Aria shook her head again. "Wow. How do you keep something like this a secret?" Ezra continued to feed Elliot apple slices, almost as if it were a habit. Aria could feel her heart swelling at the sight of Elliot with a father-figure. Not that she thought of Ezra as a father-figure for him… yet.

"My parents pretend that he's their son." Aria pushed back the curls hanging on Elliot's forehead affectionately, despite being hurt to admit that her parents were ashamed of her.

"And your ok with that?"

"Lying to the whole town is the better alternative to having people know how much they screwed up." She shrugged. It was what she'd been telling herself for weeks already, and she was just starting to feel convinced of it's truth.

"_They_?" Ezra laughed. He truly seemed amused by this. "They screwed up because you had a baby?"

"Well, yeah." Aria furrowed her brows, confused. There wasn't really anything funny about it. "You don't think it reflects on the parents when a child screws up?"

"You didn't screw up. You made a mistake." Ezra told her, the smile replaced with a serious, but soft, look. "Everybody does that at one point or another. Its how you've dealt with the mistake and come back from it that reflects on your parents."

"You really believe that?"

"Yes." Ezra said firmly, sitting up and resting his elbows on the table as he leaned forward. "Elliot is smart, he is healthy and he is happy. And clearly he adores you. I would say you're doing a good job with him, and I've only seen you with him for about three hours. That is a reflection on your parents and how they brought you up. So why they want you to lie about him is beyond me."

Aria beamed at him. Maybe he'd never disappointed her parents like she had, and couldn't understand, but she couldn't be happier in that moment. Maybe moving back to Rosewood had been a good thing after all.

*PLL*

After lunch they had gotten ice cream and gone to the butterfly house before making their way back to the front of the zoo and into the souvenir shop. While Aria let Elliot choose one toy, Ezra wandered about the shop, picking up various knickknacks as he did so. When Aria felt that she and Elliot were out of earshot, she kneeled beside the stroller and talked to him in a hushed voice.

"Do you like Ezra?" When Elliot seemed to only like the stuffed monkey he was holding, Aria continued speaking, more to herself than anything. "I like Ezra. A lot. And I think he's starting to really like us. I just hope I'm making the right choice this time. What do you think?"

Elliot squeezed the monkey and it began to call out monkey sounds, causing the toddler to jump at first, but then erupt into a fit of laughter. Three more times he squeezed the monkey before Aria gently pried it from his hands and took it to the register to buy it. As she paid, she noticed that Ezra was no longer in the shop and she found herself looking around frantically for him. Finally, she spotted him standing outside, waiting. She thanked the cashier and pushed Elliot outside to meet him.

"Did you get something for your niece?"

"Oh, no. Not this time." Ezra said. "I just got her a doll house last week and I try not to spoil her. Plus, if she finds out I was here without her all Hell will break loose."

"I see." Aria stood awkwardly, not sure what to do now. Did she hug him, or kiss him? Did he want her to kiss him? She just knew that she had to get back home soon if she didn't want her father to be angry.

"I did, however, get something for you." Ezra reached into the small bag he was holding in his hand and pulled out a piece of jewelry. When he held it in front of Aria, her jaw dropped in awe. It had long delicate chain of moth gold and silver tones, and hanging from the chain were a pair of butterfly wings. "You really seemed to enjoy the butterfly house. I thought you might like it. The wings are real, but the butterfly died of natural causes first."

"I love it." Aria said quickly. She gently took the necklace into her hands and ran her thumb over the glass-covered wings. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"I just wanted you to know," Ezra took a step closer to her, placing a hand on either of her hips. "That I think there's hope for us as well. I'm not saying we jump into things, I think we should take it slow. But I don't want to wake up one day and wonder 'what if'. So, if you're willing to just give this some time, I think I can handle whatever's going on between us."

"Ezra," Aria placed a hand on his cheek and smiled softly. "Are you sure? Because I can't have people coming in and out of my son's life. You don't have to make a decision right this second, and I don't want you to play daddy when you're around, but you need to realize that I'm a mom. That's my main priority. So are you sure this is what you want?"

"Honestly?" Ezra had removed his hands from her hips and taken a step back, taking a long hard look at Elliot before returning his attention to Aria. "Today was great. Today was amazing. But right now, I'm really not sure at all. But I figure what the hell? Why not take the chance. Being with you is as big a risk as any, and you're a good mother. So why not?"

"No." Aria's face fell. "No, not 'what the hell'. This isn't just me I have to think about, I have to think about him, too. And he needs stability, which means I need stability. Please, take your time thinking about it because it's a huge deal, but figuring out whether or not you want to be in our lives is not exactly a 'what the hell' kind of decision."

"Aria."

"Ezra." Aria shot back firmly. "I'm not mad. I'm just saying that if you're not sure you want this, then you need to think about it more. I don't want you to get involved with us if there's a chance you might regret this one day. So, think about it."

Aria turned and pushed Elliot away before Ezra could say anything else. She didn't mean to put so much pressure on him, but she refused to be a regret simple as that. Ezra needed to know that he was making the right choice in being with her. She knew she was psyching herself out more than anything, but the fact that he didn't seem to care that she had a child honestly frightened her. It was one thing when he still wanted her despite being her teacher, but him wanting to be with her knowing about Elliot? It was too good to be true.

The drive home was silent, save for Elliot's babbling and laughter at the sounds his new monkey made as he squeezed. Aria was glad that she'd had this time with him, and was ecstatic to hear her son laugh so heartily, it was a sound she had missed over the past couple of weeks.

They pulled up in front of the house just as the sun was beginning to set, her parents sitting on the porch swing waiting. Aria unbuckled Elliot and set him to down so that he could take the steps himself when her phone began to buzz. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw a missed call from Ezra and cleared it. When her cache was clear of that, the message she'd just received popped up.

"_**Looks like someone is a single mommy once again. Careful what you wish for, sometimes thinking too much is a bad thing. – A."**_

**I got a lot of requests for Ezra to meet Elliot. I had initially planned it to happen about 3 chapters from now, but almost everyone thought he should have found out by now. I know there wasn't much interaction with the other liars, but next chapter will feature them heavily. Now that Aria's secret is out, it will be much harder to hide it from her friends. Thanks so much for the reviews that I have gotten so far! It really keeps me wanting to write more. And the more I get, the quicker the next chapter will be up. This story will follow through to the end of season 1, then possibly I will write a sequel when the show goes on hiatus. Read and Review people! Have a fun and safe weekend, everyone : )**


	5. Or Something

**OK Now that Pretty Little Liars is over until Summer, I can focus! LOL Not to mention I'm done with school until May 29th and I want this story FINISHED by then. I've also decided this will be the last chapter to follow as closely to the episode it corresponds to, it's literally taken me this long to figure it out and I just can't go where I want to go and follow the show exactly like I wanted to. I've written and re-written this chapter probably a hundred times, literally and still was unhappy with the outcome. So I'm going to try something a little different. I'll still include one or two pivotal scenes from each episode, but I just can't watch and re-watch every episode like I had intended. It's driving me crazy! So. Emily and Spencer have each seen Aria with Elliot… time for Hanna to get into the mix.**

Monday morning came peering through Aria's window before she knew it and she slowly forced herself out of that last layer of sleep. She stretched and pushed back the covers as her mind went over the details of the previous weekend. Saturday had truly been amazing; she hadn't wanted it to end. And the day before had been a calm, lazy Sunday home with her family. She and Elliot had spent much of the warm late-September morning in the back yard finger painting and playing with Mike and his remote control helicopter. And today would be the day that Aria made some changes, she had decided. She got herself dressed and ready to go in almost record time. As soon as Mike called out to her that he was ready, she kissed Elliot goodbye and took them both to school. She was on a mission this morning.

Operation: Transfer out of Ezra Fitz's class.

When she stepped into the counseling office, she was greeted with the warm smile of Mrs. Holstein, the head counselor at Rosewood day.

"What can I do for you, Miss Montgomery?" She asked cheerfully.

"I'd like to transfer out of my AP English class." Aria's voice quivered slightly as she said the words out loud. She'd thought about it the entire day before, and had decided that the only way she and Ezra would get some clarity on their situation was if she distanced herself. She didn't like it, at all. But sitting in his classroom, with him looking at her the way he did and not knowing whether those looks actually meant something? It was torture. Maybe if they weren't around each other for a while, they could both think clearly.

"Alright," Mrs. Holstein, opened a drawer on her filing cabinet and quickly located the proper file folder, pulling out a blank transfer form. "I'll need you to fill this out and have your instructor sign it and then bring it back and we'll review it. The sooner you can get it back to us the quicker we can get the transfer started."

"Thanks." Aria accepted the form and looked it over as she left the office. Looking over the form, she saw the question she hadn't yet found a response to. "Reason for transfer request?". It wasn't as if she could write "We can't date if I'm in his class," or "He has to make up his mind whether or not he wants to be in mine and my son's life, so I'd rather not have to see him every day if the answer is no." She found a bench in the hallway and sat down, filling out the other areas of the form first. Name. Address. Phone number. Student ID number. Class to transfer out of. Class to transfer into. After everything was finished, she came back to her reason. After several minutes, she finally decided the most diplomatic way to explain the situation was to simple say they had a conflict of interest, so she wrote it down and headed towards the English hallway.

As she came around one corner, she saw Ezra coming around another. He had a pen in his hand and his eyes were focused on a sheet of paper that he had in front of him. This was a part of him that Aria adored; he loved the work he was doing, he _loved_ teaching. She was sure he was taking a second look at an essay the class had written the week prior, assuring himself that the grade he had given was fair. He really was a great teacher. In spite of the fact that this was only his first teaching job he was an incredible teacher. If anything, that just made things harder for Aria. She would truly miss AP English, her sanctuary from all of the things in life she shouldn't have to deal with at only sixteen.

"Can I talk to you?" She blurted out when she saw him lifting his eyes to the hallway in front of him. He tucked the binder and the essay under his arm and grinned hopefully.

"Yeah, of course."

"I'd like to transfer out of your class." It was best to just get it out there, no point in dragging it out. His face dropped as her words sunk in and it almost broke her heart to see the sadness now looming in his eyes. He looked away for a moment, glancing around him at the few others wandering the halls.

"Can you come inside for a minute, please?" He asked, pleading with her. The sadness in his eyes gave way in his voice, and Aria was taken aback for a moment.

"Yeah." She whispered, turning from him and walking to classroom 236, opening the door and letting herself in. She walked to his desk, keeping her eyes forward until she heard him close the door behind them.

"I understand where you're coming from," Ezra said, feigning a tone that Aria was sure he thought was more appropriate for a teacher. "I just wish you could stay in the class."

"This isn't an easy decision." Aria said firmly. He was looking at her that way again. Like she hung the moon or something and she wondered if that was what he was seeing when she was looking at him. "But I feel like this is the right thing to do."

"I can keep my feelings in check."

"I can't!" Saying it out loud, she realized, was so different than keeping it in her head. She couldn't keep these feelings to herself anymore. She couldn't _not_fall in love this incredible guy standing in front of her. She just couldn't. "And even if I could, I don't want to and I shouldn't have to. It's too hard to sit in this room every day and call you Mr. Fitz. I can't pretend like I don't know you. And not that I want you to decide now or pressure you if you're not ready, but I can't sit here and listen to you lecture about Scout Finch while I'm wondering whether Elliot scared you off or not."

She could see how these words were affecting him. The look in his eyes was pure frustration. Had he been scared off? They hadn't spoken the day before… had A been right? Was he over-thinking things just like she was right now?

"So, will you sign it?" She held the sheet of paper out to him tentatively. He took it, his eyes cast downward as he smoothed it over the binder he held in his arm.

"Are you sure?" He asked, bringing his eyes level with her and keeping them there. She hated those eyes. How could he look at her that way and not see that transferring classes was the best choice for them? She lost herself as she stared into his eyes. Eyes that had so many questions that she just couldn't answer for him.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She nodded, finally, watching as he signed the paper. She was making the right decision, she knew, but it still felt as though someone had shoved their hand down her throat, blocking her air passage and making her want to dry heave until it stopped hurting. When he handed her back the paper, she looked at him and hoped he could see that this was killing her, too. "Thank you."

As she left the classroom, she could feel her heart beginning to constrict in her chest. After only a mere 3 steps, she knew she needed to sit down. She stumbled over her own feet for a few moments until she reached a bench across the hall from the classroom. She laid her transfer request down beside her and laid her hand over her chest, willing the ache she felt dull.

She had just turned the form in and was making her way to the junior locker hallway when an announcement was made on the intercom.

"_Will the following students please come to the Principal's Office: Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin."_

Almost as if it had been planned, she, Emily and Hanna had been the only three students left in the hallway, and they were joined by Spencer in a mere moment. As they began to walk together, Aria's phone beeped. Assuming it be Ezra or her mother, she rolled her eyes as she dug into her bag to retrieve it. She stopped in her tracks when she saw who the sender was.

"Wait!" She called after the others, who all turned and stepped towards her. "It's from A." Hanna and Spencer leaned over either of her shoulders while Emily looked over Spencer's.

"_**Dead girls walking. –A."**_

The four shared a look of terror before continuing to the principal's office. They each hung their heads in silence as they rounded the corner of the hallway and to the staircase, heading down to the first floor. Aria knew this had to be about Alison. Had they found new clues as to who murdered her? Would the police share that kind of information with the four of them? Were they that high on the priority list? The questions swimming through Aria's head clouded her every thought for the next seven seconds. The eighth second? Well, that was taken over by Detective Wilden, who stood with his arms crossed and a look that said he wasn't here with good news and he wasn't playing games.

"Hello, ladies." He greeted them, opening the door to the office and gestured for them to come inside. "I'm going to need to ask you some more questions."

*PLL*

At lunch, the four girls sat together in silence. They had invited Jenna to sit with them out of guilt and the moment the blind girl had taken her seat, they hadn't uttered a word. Aria's eyes flitted back and forth between her three friends, hoping one of them would make some sort of conversation and save her from having to break the silence. When it became apparent to her that that wasn't going to happen, Aria excused herself and headed out to the court yard. Every day before lunch, she phoned into the daycare center to check in on Elliot. She hated having to say that she was Ella, but at least this way she could know how his day was going with his new group of playmates. She dialed the number and listened as the phone rang one, two, three times before being picked up.

"Appleseed Daycare, how can I help you?"

"Hi, this is Ella Montgomery. My son Elliot is in the ages one to two classroom with Miss Lucy, I was just calling to see how he was doing?"

"Hi, Mrs. Montgomery! If you'll hold for just a second I can get Miss Lucy on the phone to give you an update."

"Thanks." Aria looked around herself anxiously, making sure no one was within earshot.

"Miss Lucy speaking."

"Hey, this is Mrs. Montgomery." Aria said quickly. She'd been calling every day for almost a month now, and she still found herself getting nervous of being caught pretending to be Ella. "How's Elliot doing?"

"He's great, today!" Miss Lucy laughed into the phone. Aria was sure all of the teachers thought her mother was crazy, calling every day, but she couldn't help it. She hated not knowing whether Elliot was ok there without her. She hated not being in control of her son's environment or being able to protect him from the other children. "He's opening up so much today. Usually we have to practically beg him to play with the other kids, today he's just a little social butterfly."

"Really?" Aria choked out? She knew he wasn't used to being around so many children his own age, but she never thought it would take him so long to warm up to the others. "So he's playing nicely? He's not holed up in the book corner by himself?"

"Nope. He seems to really be enjoying playing with the others."

"That's such good news." Aria tried to contain her excitement, but it was difficult. It hurt her heart to know that although he was well-behaved, Elliot wasn't making friends right off the bat. To hear that he was playing with other kids took that hurt away. "Well, I've got to get going back to work, but thank you for updating me. I'm sure I seem like a complete psycho calling every day."

"Not at all, Mrs. Montgomery!" Miss Lucy assured her. "It's been a while since you've had a toddler, and I know you never had to put Aria or Mike in daycare. It's perfectly understandable."

"Alright, well, thank you. I'll see you this afternoon when I pick him up."

"Have a nice day, Mrs. Montgomery." Aria smiled softly into the phone as she pressed the end call button, pressing the phone to her chest.

"Aria?" she whipped her head around to see Spencer standing several feet away. "Are you ok? You look like you're going to cry."

"I'm fine." Aria replied defensively, shaking the emotions from her eyes. "Just stressed about the Wilden thing, that's all."

"Who were you talking to just now?"

"Oh… um," Aria rattled her brain for an explanation as to who she could be talking to in the middle of the day. "My mom texted me earlier asking if I could pick up Elliot after school. I was just calling the daycare to let them know."

"Elliot?" The name sounded foreign coming from Spencer's mouth, and Aria could tell that Spencer thought the same thing by the tone she used.

"Yeah. My…" Aria fumbled over her words, reminding herself that slipping on her lie was not an option. "Uh, little brother. The one my mom had while we were in Iceland."

"So the rumors are true?" Spencer asked incredulously. "I can't believe you didn't just tell me. No wonder we never go to your house anymore. I didn't even realize your mom could still have kids."

"Well after Elliot she can't." Aria snapped. Spencer raised her eyebrows at the outburst and Aria could tell that she'd possibly said too much. "Sorry, Spence, but a lot of people have been asking about it. Well, people that have seen him around town with my mom. Let's just go back inside, ok?"

"Why haven't I heard about Elliot before?" Spencer asked skeptically. "You've been back for three weeks already, why is this the first I'm hearing about you having a baby brother?"

"When was I supposed to tell you?" Aria shrugged. She wasn't lying about that, even if she did tell her friends the truth, how do you drop a bomb like that on people you hadn't seen or spoken to for three years? "It's not really lunchtime conversation. 'Oh, my parents were having problems so they had another baby to fix them', isn't something you bring up over Mystery Meat Monday, Spence."

"We've seen each other outside of school!" Spencer protested.

"Not at my house!" Aria argued. Spencer wasn't stupid, and Aria could see the wheels in her head shifting gears. "Every time we've hung out it's either at your place or out in town. The only person who's bothered to just stop by is Emily."

The two stared each other down intensely, each willing the other to make the next move. Any sign of weakness would tip Spencer off and it just wasn't the right time yet. She could feel her palms beginning to sweat as they sat clenched at her sides. In her head she heard her own heart pounding at the idea of being found out before she was able to warn her parents. Spencer narrowed her eyes suspiciously, the taller girl's eyes turning a bit watery as she refused to blink. Hours could have passed by before Spencer finally rolled her eyes and rolled her neck. Aria knew she wasn't completely off the hook when Spencer finally suggested they head back inside, but she was grateful that her friend wasn't questioning her on the subject anymore.

*PLL*

Aria left the counselor's office after lunch with her head down. It wasn't as if she were disappointed to be staying in Ezra's class, she really did enjoy the class, it just made everything that much more complicated. She could see in his eyes that his feelings for her were genuine, and she hoped and prayed that were enough for him to choose to be a part of hers and Elliot's life. But still, knowing that she had to sit there in his classroom every day if he chose not to be? It was truly torture. The bell had already rung so she knew there would be no slipping into class undetected, he would definitely see her and she mentally prepared herself.

She saw Mona step into class and was somewhat thankful that she wasn't the only student tardy. If she walked fast enough, Mona would still be making her grand entrance and she would be able to make her way in without everyone's eyes on her. Her classmates weren't stupid; she knew that some of them could see the way she and Ezra looked at each other. More than once she'd been sent into an internal panic when she realized they'd been caught making eye contact for just a moment too long. It worried her constantly to think that at any moment one of them could accuse him of the worst and he could end up in trouble. Thankfully that hadn't happened yet, but if it did…

Aria shook the idea from her mind as she stepped into the classroom, placing the denied transfer request on his desk and walking down the row of desks to her seat in one fluid movement. Perhaps, she told herself, if she didn't make eye contact she could avoid him for a just a little longer. She pulled out her copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and opened up to the chapter they were currently on. She was left with her thoughts for only a moment or two before temptation got the better of her, pulling her chin up and drawing her eyes to meet Ezra's. She swore she could stare into those baby blues for hours, days even, and never tire of it. It was really as if they were staring into one another's soul and it was unnerving to say the least.

Ezra's gaze was intense, and it was almost as if she could read his mind. There was hope, there was an uncertainty of what this meant, exactly, but she could see the answer to her questions in his eyes. He would choose her, when he was ready. She wouldn't force him or rush him, but she knew that on his own terms they would be together and it sent a shiver down her spine. Staying in AP English wouldn't be so bad after all.

*PLL*

After school had let out, Aria had a couple hours to herself before her mother would be home from picking Elliot at daycare, so she headed to Rosewood Library to get in some quiet study time. She loved the smell of books that had had the life read out of them. The quiet of people reading, writing and studying was just so calming to her. Anywhere that books were, she felt at home. As she stepped through the front doors of the building, she noted that there was a Help Wanted sign at the front desk and an idea occurred to her.

"Hey, Mrs. Tomlinson." Aria greeted the older woman who had been the head librarian for as long as she could remember.

"Aria!" Mrs. Tomlinson exclaimed in a hushed tone, drawing a smile from Aria. "I didn't realize you were back in town! How was Iceland?"

"Amazing? To put it in words." Aria felt her smile growing even wider and wished for a moment that she was still in Iceland with Elliot. "How have you been?"

"I'm just fine, thank you." She reached out and gave Aria's shoulder a light squeeze before returning to the books she had been checking back in. "We did lose a couple of staff members recently, though. You wouldn't happen to know anyone who'd like to tutor here after school would you?"

"Tutor the little kids?"

"Yes, we've gotten so many sign ups for the program this school year and we are so understaffed."

"I'll do it." Aria offered without hesitation. Instantly her mind began reeling with the possibilities. If she had a job, she could go on independent study and still have the same amount of time with Elliot while making money on her own. As long as the school approved it, that was. And if she could just prove to her parents that she could work and go to school and take care of Elliot, maybe they would start allowing her to tell people the truth about him. "When can I start?"

"Slow down there, Aria." Mrs. Tomlinson laughed lightly as she pulled open a drawer and pulled out an application. "Since you're still a student I'll need you to fill out this form and have your school approve it. The program doesn't actually start until next week, so I will need it back by then. Do you really think you can handle going to work and school, Aria?"

"Absolutely." Aria knew it was possible. She'd done independent study on her own for an entire year and still worked part-time in a foreign country while taking care of Elliot. Doing so in her own hometown while Elliot was in daycare anyway would not be a problem, and she was determined to prove as much.

"Well, then, as long as the school gives you permission, you'll be working Monday through Friday from two to six, when they elementary children get out of school." The librarian handed Aria a pamphlet with information regarding the after school tutoring program that they offered as well as her responsibilities as a tutor. "You're sure this isn't any imposition Aria?"

"Of course not, work study looks great on college applications." Aria reassured her, looking over the paperwork and grinning to herself. "And, now that I'm driving and everything I think it'll feel better to know I pay for my own expenses. I'll get these back to you tomorrow, Mrs. Tomlinson."

"Alright, dear. You have a nice afternoon. Tell your mother to stop by!"

"I will!" Aria said over her shoulder as she left the library with an extra pep to her step. If she could get the school to approve it, she would be making enough money to pay for Elliot's daycare and basic essentials. Not much else, but she wasn't doing this for herself or for monetary gain, she was doing this for her son.

As she continued on her drive home, she went over her pending schedule in her mind. If she did a half day through independent study, she would be able to get out of French and Pre-Calculus lectures. French wasn't a concern for her, but she knew that she would need to get her own tutor in order to keep up with Pre-Calc. Pulling into the drive way, she dialed Spencer's number.

"Hey, Spence," Aria said when she heard Spencer answer the phone. "Do you think you can come over tonight? I need some help with our homework from Mr. Gilardi's class."

"Yeah, sure." Spencer replied awkwardly. "We're having dinner with Melissa and her fiancé tonight but I can come over after?"

"That'd be great." Aria breathed a sigh of relief. She felt terrible for shutting Spencer out earlier, but there was no way she would be able to take on this job without help. "Thank you so much, Spence. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem." Spencer disconnected before Aria could even get out the word 'goodbye.'

Aria spread her books out on her desk and then pulled out her daily planner to see what exactly her assignments were for that night. For American History, read pages 67-80 and answer review questions 1-9. For Chemistry she had to have the table of elements memorized by Friday for an exam as well do the vocabulary sheets for chapter 7. Third period she had gym. In English Ezra had assigned them a five-page character analysis on any one character in the book, due by the end of the day Thursday. Unlike many of the other students, she'd chosen someone a little less prominent; she had chosen to write her paper on Calpurnia. In her French 5-6 class she had a list of 30 new verbs that she had to conjugate and then use each conjugation in a sentence. And for Pre-Calculus she had 27 problems to solve for the current chapter. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was only 3:30. Her mother wouldn't be off work and home with Elliot for at least another 2 hours. If she started right away, she could finish most of her homework and even get dinner started before then. She would show her parents that she could handle this.

*PLL*

As Aria and her family sat in the dining room eating dinner and discussing their day, she felt conflicted over how exactly she should bring up the job opportunity and possibly taking Pre-Calculus and American History through independent study. She had straight A's so far, and she'd gotten nothing but excellent grades doing independent study in Iceland. Aria looked at Elliot, who was trying to twirl his spaghetti the way everyone else was and she couldn't help but laugh. He truly was the most precious little boy, and he deserved to have everything. She knew that she had to do this, for Elliot.

"So I saw Mrs. Tomlinson at the library today." She glanced first at her father then her mother, lingering on Ella more so than Byron. "She was happy to see me."

"That's good." Byron said, smiling at his daughter. "I know you miss volunteering over there, maybe now that we're settled back in you can start doing that again."

"I think that is a great idea." Ella agreed eagerly.

"Well, actually…" Aria paused, waiting for both of her parents' eyes to focus on her. "She offered me a job as part of the tutoring program they have. I think I'm going to do it."

Ella and Byron looked at each other for a few minutes, worrying Aria. She looked at Elliot who was just oblivious to all of the tension that had just been created. Smiling, she reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Hey!" Elliot squealed pushing her hands away.

"Aria." She snapped her attention back to her parents when Ella finally spoke. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You've just started back at a regular school. I know we've asked a lot of you in terms of Elliot, but we're doing this to benefit you. I think taking on a job, too, is going to set you back quite a bit."

"No. No, it won't." Aria argued, pleadingly. "I can do it, I know I can. It's only four hours a day, and as long as the school approves it I can take French and Pre-Calc through independent study. The only thing I'll really need help with is math, and Spencer can help me. Plus it will look good to colleges."

"Why do you want a job so badly?" Byron asked, the accusatory tone in his voice not well hidden from Aria's ears. She silently thanked God that Mike wasn't here for this.

"Because, I want to be able to provide my son with the things he needs." She said coolly. "I know everyone is supposed to believe that he's yours, because you think you're protecting me. But people are going to find out eventually and then what? I need people to see that just because I did something stupid doesn't mean I'm not a responsible parent. I can't keep hiding him forever. I know that you're still ashamed of me, but I'm_ not_ashamed of him."

"We're not ashamed of you, Aria." Ella reached over the coffee table to place a hand on Aria's forearm, but Aria pulled her arm back into her lap.

"You aren't, Mom, but Dad is." Byron looked away at that. There was no denying it, really. He loved her, she knew, and he loved Elliot in his own way. But even after all of this time he still hadn't forgiven her for her mistake even though she'd pretty much forgiven him for his. Elliot had stopped playing with his food by now and was looking between the three of them with a boggled expression. "I don't like fighting in front of him, and I'm not trying to, but please let me do this for him. In only two years I'll be out of high school and I'm going to have to do this completely on my own."

"Don't be ridiculous." Byron laughed. "How will you explain taking your almost four-year-old brother with you away to college?"

"You are _not_ keeping him while I'm away at college. There is no way. I'll stay in town and attend Hollis if I have to but when I get out of high school everyone will know he's mine." Aria insisted. She knew she sounded ungrateful, speaking to her parents with the tone she was using, but wasn't it enough for them to martyr themselves now? Did she really have to put up this front for the rest of her life? "I really appreciate that you guys are doing this for me now, but it can't be like this forever."

The silence that filled the room was eerie and downright creepy. Her mother looked as though she were going to cry and her father just looked angry. She could see that her words were sinking in, and she wondered if now had been the right time to take a stand, if perhaps she should have waited until she had the school's approval for work study or something.

"Do you want the people in this town to talk about us that way?" Byron finally said. "Do you want people to say the things that they're going to say about you? About your mother and I? And what about Elliot? And Mike? Have you thought at all about how the truth is going to affect this entire family?"

"Byron." Ella warned, but her husband was not deterred.

"What are you going to tell them when people ask who Elliot's father is, hm?" Byron raised his brow at her, as if to say 'See, I bet I've got you with that.'.

Aria could feel the blood rushing from her face. In two years she hadn't once considered ever seeing Elliot's father again, much less having to reveal his identity. She had meant it when she told Ezra that it was best for all parties involved if no one ever knew.

"I'll tell them the same thing that I've said a hundred times over to the two of you; that it's none of their business." Aria said, her voice quivering.

"None of their business?" Byron released a humorless laugh, shaking his head at his daughter's naivety. "Well, let me tell you something, Aria; you tell people it's none of their business and they're going to label you as a_ slut_. Assume that you simply don't know who it is. Spread rumors that you simply _put out_for any and all."

"Byron!" Ella snapped, causing Elliot to start and his bottom lip to tremble.

"Ella, she is being completely unreasonable!" Byron argued. "We've given her every opportunity to come clean about who the hell that boy's father is and she'd rather tell the world it's nobody's business. We've given her the teenage parent dream. Allowed her to be a normal teenager again by taking Elliot as our own and she wants to be ungrateful and act like this?"

"Like what?" Aria said evenly, pulling Elliot from his high chair and holding him closely to her chest. "Like a mother who wants to do her best to provide for her child? Because I don't know if you've realized it yet, Dad, but I am a mother - _his_ mother. And I never asked you to do all of this. This was something you came up with."

"It's something you went along with." Byron said flatly.

"Well, what else was I supposed to do? You've never tried to cover up the fact that I ruined your life by doing what I did." Aria ran her fingers through her son's hair gently. There was venom in her words, though her voice remained calm. "Whose reputation are you more concerned about protecting, mine or yours? I know I hurt you, both of you, when you found out I was pregnant, but Elliot is MY son and I've been nothing but the best parent I can be. I get excellent grades and I'm trying to better myself as a mother by getting a job and still you're ashamed of me. I wish every day that I had waited because I HATE the idea of you guys taking care of him and paying for everything, but you keep holding it over my head that I ruined everything for this family when I got pregnant. It is what it is, Dad. I can't take it back, and I would never because my son is anything but a mistake. Besides, how is me taking a job any different than me volunteering?"

"Aria." Ella raised the volume of her voice just enough to bring the room to silence.

She was shocked that her mother was now speaking to her in that demeaning tone. If anything, Ella had always been sympathetic about Aria's situation. They'd had many talks over the last two years, bonded together as two mothers. How Ella could see that it didn't break her daughter's heart to deny her own child, she couldn't understand. Aria only wished that her mother would stand up to her father about it. Something had shifted in Ella since returning to America and Aria drew blood on her tongue every day to keep herself from telling her mother the truth.

"You know we are only doing this to protect you and to do what is best for Elliot." Ella stated. "We want you both to have a very full life, that's why we're allowing you to go back to school and be a teenager, like everyone else."

"I'm not everyone else, Mom!" Aria shouted, gently placing a hand over Elliot's ear to protect him from her angry words. "How is taking my child away from me and not letting me take care of him protecting me?"

"Aria, you are so much better than…" Ella paused, and Aria knew her mother was searching for a polite way to describe 'a girl who got knocked up before starting high school'. "You're better than this _situation_. It's not ideal, by any means, but we want you to reach your full potential. You're not going to get there with a baby holding you back, sweetheart."

"Elliot doesn't hold me back." Aria was stunned that her mother would even think that. "He's the reason I do everything that I do. I don't get and go to school every morning or get good grades for me, I do that for him. It's been hard, but he has never held me back. As a mother I don't even know how you could say that."

Ella's eyes watered and she left the room with her hand over her mouth. Aria knew she wasn't being fair, her mother had been nothing if not supportive since finding out about Aria's pregnancy, but it still didn't seem right that she could say those things about Elliot.

"Stop being a brat, Aria." Byron pushed away from the table and rose to his feet. "You want the job? Take it. But I'll tell you this: you wouldn't be able to make it a week with Elliot on your own. "

"I did it for a year and a half." Aria also rose from the table, shifting Elliot to her hip. "You didn't even hold him until he was three months old, wouldn't call him your grandson. You probably felt guilty because while you were forcing me to take care of my 'mistake' on my own, you were also forcing me to cover yours."

Byron's face visibly fell and Aria knew that although she was stooping low, she'd struck just the right nerve.

"Yeah, I admit that I made a dumb choice by having sex when I did and getting pregnant but at least I owned up to it. I don't know if you realize this, Dad, but it has been_ killing_ me. For more than two years you've made me lie to my own mother, and now you're making me lie to everyone else. I may look bad for a having had a baby at fifteen, but _you're_ the one making me lie about it. What does that say about you?"

Aria held Elliot close and moved past Byron up the stairs to her bedroom. She could hear her father calling after her, but ignored him. She wouldn't let him win this battle. Even if the only person she was fighting was him, she would not give up the fight for her son.

"Hey, Buddy, you ok?"

"Ya." Elliot yawned and snuggled closer into her chest as Aria sat down at the edge of her bed.

"Want Mama to sing to you, baby?" Elliot didn't say anything in response, just nodded his head as his eyes began to droop. Aria softly began to pat his back, creating a rhythm for her song to help lull him to sleep soundly.

"_This is a story about Elliot_

_His Mama sent him out to buy bread,_

_But Elliot didn't feel like walking,_

_He wished that he could fly instead, and he said:_

_If I were a bird I could fly to the store_

_Fly to the store, fly to the store_

_If I were a bird I could fly to the store_

_Fly to the store for my Mama."_

By the time Aria had finished the first chorus, Elliot was snoring in her arms. She whispered 'I love yous' to him as she carried him across the hall into his bedroom and laid him down. Checking the time on her phone, she figured Spencer would be arriving any minute so she gave Elliot a kiss to his forehead and turned on his nightlight before exiting the bedroom, leaving his door open just an inch or so.

"Hey." Aria whipped her hair around when she heard Mike whispering. "What's going on?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing's going on." After everything that had been going on in her life and between herself and her parents, she knew Mike didn't always get the attention he deserved and she had promised herself long ago that she would protect her brother from the problems within her family.

"I just walked in, Mom and Dad wouldn't even look at me." Mike said, shifting his weight from one foot to another uneasily. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Nothing, Mike. You don't need to worry." Aria reached up and hugged him firmly. She felt horrible hiding things from her brother, but he didn't deserve the broken family she'd created by having a baby. "We were just arguing about what we're always arguing about. They'll be over it by tomorrow, I promise."

"Are you sure?" Mike returned the hug, a sense of security overcoming him in his sister's arms. "Mom's crying and Dad just looks royally pissed off. More than I've seen him since…"

"Since we left for Iceland?" Aria supplied. It was true, neither she nor her brother could imagine seeing Byron angrier than he had been the first few months they spent in the foreign country. Mike only nodded in response. "Yeah, well… same subject, new chapter."

Aria pulled away, walking back into her room with Mike following close behind.

"Do you wish you could take it back?" Mike asked. The question caught Aria completely off guard. She and Mike had shared many talks throughout the past two years, and had grown very close, but he'd never once questioned whether she regretted her son. "I mean, I love Elliot. And I love you, Sis, but don't you ever look at all of this and wonder 'what if'?"

Aria bit her lip, her eyes cast downward as she nodded. "All the time."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah." Aria sat at the edge of her bed, gesturing for Mike to join her. When he finally did, she turned her body so that her right leg was tucked under her and she was facing him completely. "I love Elliot more than I knew I could ever love anyone or anything. There isn't a single thing in this world I wouldn't do for him. And I have never regretted my decision to keep him, but I do wonder. I wonder if I had just waited ten, fifteen years would he be the same Elliot? And I wonder if I hadn't gotten pregnant would Dad and I still hate each other on our best days? But then I look at my son and he's just… he's perfect. And he's mine. When he's scared or sad or hurt, _I'm_ the one he comes to for comfort. I'm the one he cries for when he goes to bed at night and the one he looks for when he wakes up in the morning. Being somebody's mother, being their _everything_… It just doesn't get better than that."

"So you're happy you had a baby when you did?" Mike scrunched his eyebrows. He was nearing fifteen now himself and he couldn't imagine having a child in his wildest dreams.

"Not exactly." Aria giggled. "But I'm so happy that he is who he is. And he wouldn't be that little boy if he hadn't been born when he was. I do wish I had been older, so that we wouldn't have to deal with all this, but like I told Dad: it is what it is. And I_ love_ my son. Just promise you won't have one anytime soon, please?"

"Believe me, NOT going to be a problem!" Mike readily agreed, gripping Aria's shoulder for just a moment before getting up and heading down the hall to his own bedroom.

*PLL*

A few hours later, after Spencer and Aria had both completed the night's assignment for Pre-Calc, the two friends sat leaning against Aria's bed in companionable silence for a while. Each could sense that the other was stressing over something, but knew to leave well enough alone for the time being. They sat, not uttering a sound to one another for over an hour before a soft knock came to Aria's door. Before Aria could answer, the door pushed open to reveal a, now awake, whimpering Elliot.

"Hey, Buddy." Aria said softly, opening her arms for him to fall into. "You have a bad dream?"

"Ya." Elliot rubbed his eyes, exhaustion still wreaking havoc on his body. When he finally realized that his mother was not alone, he pointed his index finger to Spencer. "Who?"

"This is Spencer." Aria said, also pointing to her friend. "Spencer, this is Elliot."

"Hi, Elliot." Spencer reached out and shook to boy's handing, drawing a smile from him as he laid his head down on Aria's shoulder. Spencer surveyed the toddler for a few moments, taking notice of his features. Though they were drooping, she could see he had the same large eyes as Aria. He had her nose, her chin, her hair color. "He looks so much like you… but he clearly didn't get your eyes."

"Yeah, I know." Aria smiled, a small blush reaching the apples of her cheeks. It didn't go unnoticed that Spencer was seeing what most people did, except for his eye color Elliot truly was a living, breathing clone of herself. "He must get them from my dad. Recessive genes or something."

"Yeah. Or something." Spencer drew her response out long enough for Aria to know she just wasn't buying it. It definitely wouldn't be easy to keep this from her.


	6. The Simple Things

**Sorry this has taken so long to get out. I haven't been sleeping much at all lately. Literally about an hour or two a night, sometimes less. And sleep deprivation doesn't do much in way or getting something written that I DON'T hate. But I got loads of sleep this weekend, and I'm already about halfway done with the next chapter, which picks up when Aria and her mother are at the movies! I haven't said this the past couple of chapters (I'm always in such a hurry to post, and I feel like crap for it.) but THANK YOU so much to those that have reviewed, added this to their alerts, favorited, etc. I appreciate it so much. I've let this idea run wild in my mind, and write it more for myself than anything but it's a great reward to know other people enjoy it as well.**

**The other liars haven't been involved much up until this point, but next chapter that's going to change. Have a great week, everyone!**

It had been three days since Aria had approached her parents about potentially working at the library. They hadn't brought it up again and she hadn't felt the need to add salt to the wounds she had created. Instead, the past three days had passed as if nothing had even happened. As if Byron hadn't called her a slut and as if Ella hadn't told her that Elliot would keep her from reaching her full potential. The words had yet to escape Aria's mind, but she knew better than to let them know that. As long as she walked on egg shells for the next few days, everything would still be fine when she actually started working. Walking on eggshells, however, was not working with Spencer. Since that night, Spencer had been nothing if not determined to know every little detail about Aria's time in Iceland. "Why did you guys leave so suddenly? What did you do while you were there? Why would you take a job out there? Why didn't you go to a regular school there? Why didn't you date anyone?" Spencer hadn't asked specifically about Elliot, but Aria knew that the girl with a genius-rated IQ was getting to the bottom of things.

Emily hadn't exactly been acting normally around her, either. It made Aria wonder if Spencer had talked to her about Monday night over the last three days. During fourth period that day, after she'd turned in her paper and waited for Ezra to begin the class discussion, out of the corner of her eye she saw Emily fidgeting in the seat beside her. Emily normally was a worrier, always overly-concerned about on thing or another, but Aria could tell that the girl was purposely avoiding looking in Aria's direction.

"Em? Everything ok?" Aria asked. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Emily flitted her eyes between Spencer, who sat in the front seat of her row and Aria. "Nothing. Just this whole A thing. I got a note in my locker this morning."

"What?" Aria turned in her seat, her concern switching immediately from her own secret to Emily's. "What did it say?"

"I can't tell you, exactly." Emily looked down at her hands which were neatly folded on top of her desk. She thumb wrestled herself, struggling with the words to say. "But this thing that A knows… _nobody_ can know, Aria. If people find out they… they just _can't_ find out. And that's exactly what A is planning to make happen."

"Em, whatever it is, you can tell me." Aria focused on Emily seriously until she finally met her gaze. Emily had been the first to approach her and fall back into friendship with her when she got back from Iceland. Aria would be damned if she didn't make sure Emily knew without a doubt that she was there for her no matter what. "Or Spencer, or Hanna. You know we're not going to judge you."

"Really?" Emily said, the vaguest hint of skepticism in her voice. "Well, why don't you tell us whatever your secret is, then?"

Ezra called the class to order then, saving Aria from having to respond, but her mind was now far from AP English. Emily had to have talked to Spencer about what was going on with her. Not that Spencer actually _knew_ anything - not indefinitely, at least - but there was no doubt that they were creating theories based on their observations. It hadn't been dismissed from Aria's mind that both Emily had Spencer had been completely awestruck by the resemblance she and Elliot shared. It was definitely stronger than the resemblance she and Mike had. And both of them had felt necessary to point out that resemblance, as if she hadn't noticed it since the moment he'd been placed in her arms.

Aria could feel beads of sweat collecting at her hairline as she went over every possible scenario in her head. Spencer had agreed to help her with their math course whenever she needed, but that meant Spencer spending more and more time at the house, more time around Elliot. The entire situation was a double-edged sword. On one edge of the blade, everyone would know the truth and she wouldn't have to be paranoid of people somehow finding out. On the other edge, her family could be torn into smaller pieces than could be repaired if anyone found out too soon. But, _when_ was too soon versus when was too late, Aria pondered. If everyone found out now, while she was in school, the word would be that she would never amount to anything. If not until after graduation, people would say she had been a liar. Which, in all actuality, was just another 'truth'. And, as much as Aria wished otherwise, she wasn't quite ready to deal with the consequences of taking a dare.

"Aria?" Ezra called out, snapping Aria from her trance. As she looked up from the spot on her desk that her eyes had been trained on, she could see that everyone's eyes were fixated on her. Ezra must have been asking her a question, but she hadn't the faintest clue about what.

"What?" She said blankly, unsure what else she really could say. She hadn't been listening and she'd been caught.

"Well, you wrote your character study on Calpurnia. What made you come to that decision?" Ezra furrowed his brow, unsure as to why Aria had just completely spaced out. He'd been asking opinions on why certain characters had been chosen as the subject of the papers he had assigned earlier in the week and though Aria normally was very alert, today she'd completely zoned him and looked paler than a ghost.

"Well, because she's not anyone else's first choice because we barely know her." Aria said. "Everything we know about her is based solely on Scout's observations of her because she's the one telling the story, but just because that's all Scout sees doesn't mean that that's all there is to her. I wanted to understand the person she is outside of the Finches' home. Everyone has a life that's separate from what people around them can see."

"So you don't think that what you see is what you get when it comes to the people around us?" Ezra seemed intrigued by this response and Aria could feel a blush creeping up her neck. "That no one in this room is exactly who they're portraying themselves to be?"

"Exactly." Aria glanced around the room. Most of the students had lived in Rosewood their entire lives. She could name and state a well-known fact about each of her classmates, but in all honesty, she didn't know any of them very well. "I mean, I've known every person in here since at least third grade. I can tell you all kinds of things that I've noticed about them throughout the years, but that doesn't mean I know any of these people from Adam outside of these four walls."

"But, would it be fair to say that because you have known them all these years that you have certain incite into their lives, regardless of how well you know them personally? That Scout has that same incite of Calpurnia's character?" Ezra questioned. He grinned, pleased with Aria's arguments. "Remember, she's been around for most of Scout's life. Scout may know her better than you think she does."

"We all see things about each other that no one else has probably noticed. Scout's no different." Aria agreed. She loved debating character studies, the fact that was no simple black and white answers were part of why she loved English class so much. "But the way _she_ perceives Calpurnia isn't the only was she can _be_ perceived. I mean if you or I met her on the street we wouldn't necessarily see her in the same light that Scout does. I think it's such an interesting thing about this book. When you're reading a story told in first person, especially from the observations of a child, we the readers get to imagine any sort of history for any of the other characters. And the story is actually told in retrospect. Scout may not have even noticed these things about Cal until she was much older."

"Well, I can tell already that I'm looking forward to grading your character study." Ezra's grin grew just slightly, his eyes twinkling playfully and Aria could feel the blush flooding from her neck into her cheeks. Though she was embarrassed, she returned the grin before averting her eyes.

"Let's go with that argument for discussion today." Ezra addressed the rest of the class. "Are there any other characters that you believe aren't exactly who they present themselves to be?"

The rest of the class was spent debating the topic, making arguments for various characters with the other students chiming in here and there. More than once, Aria could feel Spencer's eyes looking back to her. Of course Aria would mention having a secret life when she was, in fact, leading one. Aria didn't speak for the remainder of the period, hoping to keep the attention off of her completely. When the bell rang, she gathered her notebook and her copy of the novel into her bag, rushing to the door as quickly as possible. Not before Ezra called out "Aria can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Yeah, Mr. Fitz?" Aria thought better than to call him Ezra while there were other students within earshot. It stunned her that he was requesting a private conversation with other students within earshot.

"How are you?" Ezra asked simply.

"Fine." Aria replied, not sure what else to say. Ezra quirked an eyebrow at her and she couldn't help but relax herself. She knew he had the next period free, and the rest of the students from her class had already filed out into the hallway. "Yeah, I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm…" Ezra trailed off, walking around the front of his desk and leaned back against it with his weight on his palms. "doing alright. I've been thinking a lot about a trip that I took last weekend. More specifically I've been thinking about one of my students I ran into on that trip who is also leading another life outside of these four walls."

Aria looked to the floor and smiled softly.

"I hear you're trying to become part-time independent study." Ezra stated.

"I am." Aria agreed. This was going to come up sooner or later. All of her teachers had to approve the request before she could start working. Thinking better of her words, she looked back up at him and added with a hint of flirtation in her voice. "That is, if my teachers think I'm capable."

"I don't think so." Ezra said seriously and Aria's face fell. After a few moments, Ezra's face broke out into a grin again and Aria felt herself relax. "I know so."

"Oh, yeah?" Aria laughed. "Well it's not like working at a library is going to affect my work in _this_ class or anything."

"I certainly hope not." Ezra chuckled as he turned behind him and grabbed a sheet of paper that Aria could see had something printed on it. "I know how much it means to you to be able to pay for Elliot's things on your own, and I think you getting that job will help you feel more independent. Here."

Aria took the flyer and looked it over. "What's this?"

"It's an ongoing young writer's contest." Ezra explained, pushing off of the desk and standing up completely straight. "I know that everything you do here is to make a better life for Elliot, but this contest is for young writers and I think you should do it - **for yourself**. Entrants have a chance at publication in one of four quarterly collections of short stories, as well as various semi-annual cash and scholarship prizes. I was approached to see if any of my students would be interested and I thought of you. I think this will be good for you, Aria."

"Wow. Thanks." Aria was taken aback by the suggestion. "I don't know about me winning, or even being published, but it means a lot that you would consider me for something like this."

"Just something to think about." Ezra locked eyes with her and the world shifted. He'd been approached about the contest as her teacher, but here and now that's not what he was approaching her as. What he was, exactly, wasn't clear to Aria yet but she doubted a teacher was supposed to look at a student the way he was looking at her. The way he was always looking at her. The butterflies in her stomach began to dance and she couldn't stop the megawatt smile from spreading across her face.

She wanted to kiss him, then. He hadn't even given her an answer about what it was he wanted, but what she knew was in this moment that she wanted nothing more than to just kiss him. His eyes flicked down to her lips for a brief moment and she knew that he was thinking the same thing. She could feel the heat radiating off of his body as he began to close the space between them. He was less than a foot from her now and the suspense of what was to come was making her heart throb inside of her ear drums. He lowered his face slightly, a mere couple of inches from her own. The pulse points on her wrists were pounding so hard she could feel skin on her forearms crawling as goose bumps began to rise over her body. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes fluttered shut. She could feel him exhale softly against her lips for just a moment before she could hear the door opening and she instinctively sprang back.

"Ezra, could you help me with – oh, Aria!" Mrs. Welch exclaimed, looking between the two nervously. "We always seem to be running into each other in here!"

"Yeah, funny how that happens." Aria said with a forced laugh, shooting Ezra a slightly alarmed look. "Thanks for the information about the contest, Mr. Fitz. I'll think about it."

"Please do." Ezra agreed as Aria rushed out of the classroom. As she closed the door behind her she released a sigh of utter relief. Mrs. Welch definitely had the worst – or worst, depending on your standpoint – timing of all the people in the school, that was certain. She'd made it all of ten steps when suddenly she felt someone linking arms with her.

"I think _someone's_ hot for teacher." Hanna giggled into her ear. Aria stiffened immediately, praying silently that Hanna hadn't actually seen anything.

"What? Wh-why would you even say that?" She pulled her arm from the blonde girl's grasp and looked at her with what she hoped was a look that didn't say 'you caught us!'.

"Well, really, who doesn't have the hots for Fitz?" Hanna replied nonchalantly, continuing down the hall towards her next class. "I wish I wrote as well as you did if it meant I could discuss it alone after class. Of course, if it were me we'd be discussing something other than nouns and adjectives, if you know what I mean."

Aria could physically feel her stomach turn. At the moment, she'd rather take the dare of exposing her Elliot secret than have Hanna find out about she and Ezra.

"He was just telling me about this short story writing contest." She tried to explain calmly. Her nerves were on edge the last few days and comments about being 'hot' for Ezra were doing little to help calm them down. "He said he thinks I have a shot at winning a scholarship or something."

"He totally has a crush on you, too!" Hanna gushed excitedly. "Don't you see the way he practically drools when you talk about anything having to do with his class? Just think, in two years you could be dating him. "

"Han, don't be ridiculous." Aria shook her head. She and Hanna hadn't talked much since she'd been back in town; her former friend had spent most of her time trolling around campus with Mona with their noses in the air. She knew Hanna meant no harm with her words, but never had Aria so badly wanted to tell someone to shove a sock in it.

"Wow." Hanna took note of her sudden defensiveness. "I guess someone really_ is_ hot for teacher." she teased. "Seriously, though, Aria, we should hang out soon. I know I've been a bit of a bitch but I really do miss you. SO what do you say?"

"Yeah, sure." Aria muttered, eye-roll included. "Look I have to get going to class, ok?"

"I'll call you later!" Hanna waved before darting off in the other direction. Aria's relief wouldn't last for long, though. By the time she'd reached her next class her phone was buzzing in her bag. Without a second thought, she retrieved the phone to find a new text message.

_**Looks like someone isn't as good at keeping secrets as I am. Better shape up, Aria, wouldn't want something to happen to your precious English teacher if secrets started spilling now would we? – A.**_

_Shit._

*PLL*

After Aria had turned in her completed application to the library and finished her homework, she and Elliot laid sprawled out on a blanket in the backyard. The weather was finally beginning to change from Summer to Autumn and Aria wanted to enjoy as much daylight and outside time with Elliot as she could.

"I love you, Elliot." She murmured, more to herself than anything. After getting that text from A she'd felt the urge to just be with her son. First A had been threatening to expose her secret son, now they were threatening to possibly hurt Ezra. Aria wouldn't let that bitch threaten to hurt Elliot. "I love you so, **so** much."

"Ya." Elliot agreed, pulling a giggle from his mother as she rolled onto her stomach to face him. She reached over and tousled his hair earning a fake glare in response.

"You are such a goof, E." Aria teased. Elliot grabbed one of the many books he had brought outside with him and handed it to his mother. "You wanna read, baby?"

"Ya." Elliot plopped himself down in her lap and opened the book. He pointed eagerly to the first page, urging her to start reading. "Ree."

Aria grinned as she began to read from the story he had chosen,_ Is Your Mama a Llama?_. She was always fascinated by how much he loved books, a trait he had definitely inherited from her. As soon as she'd open a book no matter what it was, Elliot would sit and listen to her with such bewilderment and admiration it made her heart swell. She found herself wondering in moments like this how she'd been so lucky. She'd done something so many people would feel shameful about, something she herself felt shameful about for a while, and yet out of that she had the most beautiful little boy. He was, to her, the perfect child. He was polite and well-behaved and smart. He was everything every parent hoped for in a child and somehow he'd found his way to her, of all people.

"Elliot, do you know how much Mama loves you?" Aria asked as she closed the book, wrapping her arms firmly about his waist.

"Much much!" Elliot said, stretching his arms as far apart as he could.

"This much!" Aria agreed, stretching her own arms out to show him. "There is nothing that I won't do for you, Handsome. _Nothing_."

Elliot squealed excitedly, spring from her lap suddenly and running away from her for her to chase him. She watched for just a minute as he did so, amazed at how much he had grown in only eighteen months and marveling over the fact that he would only get bigger and smarter as the days wore on.

From inside of the house, little did Aria know, she was being watched. Hanna had arrived a few minutes ago and been let into the house by Ella Montgomery. Ella had told her that Aria was in the backyard and that she was free to show herself out there. Hanna had thanked her and made her way to the back door, stopping in her tracks when she saw Aria sitting on a blanket with a small boy that looked strikingly familiar in her lap. Her mother hadn't been joking when she said the youngest Montgomery looked just like his sister. After Aria finished the book she had been reading, Elliot began to run around the yard, Aria chasing him shortly after. The moment seemed so… intimate, Hanna decided. She didn't want to intrude, so she turned back and headed home.

*PLL*

Saturday morning Aria woke up to Elliot tugging on her covers.

"Mama!" He called out. "Mama, up!"

"Ok, ok." Aria mumbled, throwing the blankets back and scooping Elliot into her arms. She carefully rolled over so that Elliot was on her bed between her body and the wall. "What are we going to do today, Handsome?"

"Mike!"

"You want to hang out with Uncle Mike?" Aria giggled. Mike hadn't been home much lately and she knew how much Elliot adored his uncle that she was sure he missed him. Elliot bounced up and down on his knees, pleased at the idea of spending some quality time with Mike. "Ok, let's go see if he wants to do that!" Aria placed the toddler on the ground and followed him down the hallway to Mike's bedroom. She knocked twice, waiting for a response that didn't come. Keeping her voice soft she called out to him "Mike?"

"Mike!" Elliot shouted, banging on the door harder than Aria had wanted him to. "Mike, up!"

"Elliot!" Aria scolded and the hurt look in her son's eyes killed her. She didn't have to discipline him often, and the few times she had had to raise her voice with him always seemed to hurt his feelings. She absolutely hated it. "Let's use inside voices, please."

"K." Elliot shrugged as he continued to bang on the door. "Miiiiiiike!" He fake whispered to the door until Mike finally emerged.

"Hey, Buddy." Mike rubbed his eyes sleepily when he finally made his appearance. He carefully pushed past his sister and nephew and made his way to the bathroom. Aria picked up Elliot and balanced him on her hip while she waited for Mike to finish in the restroom.

"You want some pancakes, Handsome?" She whispered into his hair. He bounced excitedly, clapping his hands together rapidly. "Alright, let's go make some while Uncle Mike is in the bathroom."

As Aria mixed the ingredients and began to pour the patter onto the griddle, flipping each pancake when it was necessary, the members of the Montgomery house slowly began to fill the kitchen. Ella entered the kitchen first, brushing Elliot's hair back and planting a kiss on his forehead before sitting down.

"What are you doing, Aria?" Ella wondered aloud. Aria and her mother hadn't engaged in idle chit chat since Monday, so Aria knew this was her mother's way of moving past their previous altercations.

"Making breakfast." Aria replied, stacking the last of the pancakes onto the plate where she had piled the others. She crossed the kitchen in three steps and pulled a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator. Carefully, and as neatly as possible she cracked each egg into a medium-sized bowl and beat them with a whisk briskly. She poured the eggs into a deep frying pan and began to scramble them, adding salt, pepper and seasoning as she did. "Remember when Mike and I were little, every Saturday was Pancake Day?"

"I remember." Ella smiled fondly. Her own daughter wasn't even all the way grown yet, but she was so grown up compared to the baby girl Ella remembered from all those years ago. Looking at her now it was hard to believe that once upon a time, only yesterday it seemed, Aria had been the one laughing excitedly at the prospect of Pancake Day and now here she was, almost an adult. A young woman. A mother.

"I want that for Elliot." Aria said simply, smiling back and her mother before returning to the task at hand. "You always made simple things so special when we were kids. I want everything to be special for him, too."

By the time she had set up plates for the five of them and had Elliot settled into his chair, Byron and Mike had finally come down, Byron dressed casually and Mike still wearing his pajamas. After everyone else had situated themselves around the table, Aria sat herself down next to Elliot's high chair and began to cut his pancake into pieces small enough for him to chew.

"What were you guys banging on my door for, anyway?" Mike asked as he shoveled his syrup-drowned pancakes into his mouth. Aria made a face, praying silently that Elliot never grew up into a teenage boy. Teenage boys ate like… _that_.

"Well, Elliot wants to spend some time with you today, don't you?"

"Mike play!" Elliot agreed, bringing out a smile from Aria and a laugh from both Mike and Ella. Byron tried a little too hard to pretend that he didn't find it amusing.

"I was thinking, if you didn't have plans maybe you guys could go to the park?" Aria suggested, glancing at her parents and hoping they would agree to the plans.

"That's perfect!" Ella agreed enthusiastically. "Dad's going golfing in a bit, so maybe you and I can go do something?" It took Aria a moment to realize that the question was directed towards her.

"You and me?" She asked, somewhat perplexed by the suggestion.

"There's a showing of 'It Happened One Night' at the theatre in Old Hollis," Ella explained. "I was just thinking – I mean, it's been a while since you and I have been able to do something together. I guess I didn't think that maybe you had plans with the girls already, or-"

"Mom." Aria interjected, laughing softly. "I'd love to."

"Well," Byron cleared his throat, standing up from the table. "I need to get going, Thanks for the breakfast."

After he had left, Mike cleared he and his father's plates from the table. "Guess I need to get dressed then and take little man to the park."

"Mike play!" Elliot cheered, lifting his fists into the air in victory.

**PLEASE don't forget to review! I love to hear opinions, good or bad. And the more feedback I get, the more motivated I am to get the story going. **


	7. The Girl With the Genius IQ

**THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reviews I have gotten! I'm so sorry for taking so long, that's the number one request I always get is to update quickly.. I had this almost finished and honestly life just got in the way. You guys are always so sweet and I really don't deserve it.. But, I do appreciate it!**

The drive from their house to the Old Hollis movie theatre was filled with a comfortable silence. Aria knew that, without words being exchanged, all had been forgiven. She didn't like arguing with her parents, but sometimes it just felt like they were taking things much too far and she hated it. She hated everything about their current situation. And more than she could say, she hated that her mother still didn't know about her father's affair. If she did, things might be very different.

After they had parked, Aria and her mother made their way to the theatre, chatting idly along the way.

"So, are you excited to be starting a new job?" Ella asked.

"Yeah, I really am." Aria replied, happy that she could talk about this. "I mean, Elliot's in day care anyway, so at least this way I spend the same amount of time with him and I get to make money to at least pay for his daycare."

"You know your father and I are doing this to benefit you, right?" Ella folded her hands together as she walked, clearly unsure of herself. "You have to know that."

"I do. I know." Aria agreed. "But I'm doing this to benefit me, too, Mom. I don't want to go against you, or Dad, I'm just trying to get my life together. For Elliot. I really, really appreciate that you guys want to protect me and give me the opportunities every other teenage girl has, but I haven't lost any of that. I mean, since I've been a mom I don't want any of that stuff high school kids want. I don't _want_ to go to parties or go out with boys," _I'd much rather go out with men_, Aria thought to herself cheerfully. "I just want to take care of Elliot and finish high school and go to college so I can provide a good life for him _on my own_. And hopefully teach him better than to repeat my actions because this is not the life I want for him."

Ella studied her daughter carefully. She didn't quite know how to take the honesty in her daughter's voice. Just when had her little girl grown up? "You're a great mother, Aria. I don't want to take that away from you, but you must see your father's reasoning behind this arrangement?"

"Yeah." Was all Aria could say in response. She understood her father's reasoning, but her mother must see that his reasoning was flawed? She wanted to tell her mother that her father was much better at keeping secrets than Ella thought, but she knew what the outcome would be. After all, she'd been the one assisting in keeping her father's secret for so long.

"Oh, damn." Ella stopped abruptly in front of the theatre. "I left the tickets in the car."

"I'll walk with you."

"Oh, no, that's fine." Ella protested, walking from Aria as she did so. "I'll just be a minute!"

Aria glanced around the street, taking in her surroundings. This Old Hollis neighborhood was full of vintage shops and colonial buildings that had the charms of life in the early 1800s. Aria loved everything about this neighborhood. It was nice to be out with just her mother, she decided. They really hadn't had a mother-daughter day since before Alison had gone missing. Sometimes she missed days like this. Another reason she was completely dreading Elliot turning into a teenager. She loved spending time with her mom, and she knew Elliot adored spending time with her, but that wouldn't always be the case. In the blink of an eye, going anywhere with Mommy would be the last thing on his mind.

"Aria?" Aria turned to the sound of the familiar voice, unable to resist the smile spreading across her features when her eyes finally rested on Ezra.

"Hey." She breathed out. She noticed that his eyes shifted to somewhere behind her and turning around, she saw that her mother was already back with their tickets for the show. "Uh - Mr. Fitz, hi! This is my mom, Ella."

"Mr. Fitz the new English teacher?" Ella extended her hand in greeting.

"Yes." Ezra smiling that charming smile Aria adored and shook her mother's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Montgomery."

"Oh, please, call me Ella." She corrected him with a grin. "We're a very informal family."

Aria could feel the awkwardness radiating off of Ezra as he chuckled at Ella's statement. She knew she looked like an idiot, but she just couldn't wipe the smile she knew was plastered to her face, so wide that her cheeks were beginning to get sore.

"Are you going to see the movie?"

"Yes, I am." Ezra looked up at the title on the theatre billboard, as if he had forgotten what movie he had even been coming to see. "It's, uh, it's one of my favorites."

"Aria's, too." Ella said, narrowing her eyes slightly and Aria noticed the way she took the sight of Ezra in. "She's told us a lot about you."

The smile immediately removed itself from Ezra's face and she could see the absolute terror that filled his eyes. She tried to signal with her eyes that he looked guilty and her mother would notice, before Ella gave a slight tug on her arm.

"Although she forgot to mention," Ella said, returning her attention to her daughter for a brief moment. "the 'you're very young' part."

"Yeah, well" "I, uh, I'm" "We'd better get inside." Aria and Ezra spoke over each other, Aria attempting to change the subject and Ezra completely unsure what to say.

"We'll see you inside." Ella waved as she allowed Aria to steer her inside the theatre. "You also forgot to mention the 'really cute' part." She added under her breath.

"Mom!" Aria scolded while they were in line for the concessions stand. "Way to embarrass the guy!"

"Embarrass the _guy_?" Ella chortled. "I think you're more embarrassed than he was! How old is he? 25? 24?"

"I don't know!" Ella ticked one brow at her indicating that she knew Aria wasn't telling the truth and Aria rolled her eyes. "23. He just graduated Hollis."

"No wonder you like him so much." Ella teased and Aria could feel the color drain from her face. "I bet every girl in that school has to fan themselves when he walks by."

"Mom!" Aria groaned, completely embarrassed by this point but glad that her mother was making a joke of it rather than taking it seriously. "Can we just go sit down now, please?"

"Oh, alright." Ella paid for their popcorn and drinks and followed her daughter into the theatre. The opening credits were already over by the time she noticed Ezra walking in out of the corner of her eye. "Mr. Fitz, why don't you sit with us?"

Aria's eyes grew wide and she silently pleaded with him to sit anywhere but with her and her mother. Of course, her mother was at the end of the aisle, so he would have to sit next to her, but there was no way Aria could make it through this movie without dying of mortification. She honestly wanted to strangle him when he agreed and took the seat beside her. For the briefest second, his hand grazed hers and it was like having a jolt of electricity shot into her hand. Immediately they both shifted their hands so that their hands wouldn't be touching. Ezra shifted his legs so the very corners of their knees just barely tapped one another.

Aria had to focus every ounce of her willpower to focus on the screen in front of her. More than once, she caught Ezra stealing glances at her and she knew he could see that she was doing the same. About halfway through the film, Ella excused herself to go to the restroom. The second she was out of the theatre, Aria could feel Ezra reach over and caress her knee with the back of his knuckles. The gesture was so small, so steady, that even if her mother were there it would have gone unnoticed. Even so, her mother wasn't the one who would have felt the jolt of electricity surging through her body. They were the only two in the theatre at the moment and Aria silently thank God, or whoever was up there, that they had been the only people in Rosewood interested in seeing this movie.

"So…" Ezra whispered.

"So." Aria agreed, the corners of her mouth lifting just slightly. "What do you think of my mom?"

"Your mom isn't really what I want to be talking about right now." Ezra said, his eyes cast downward at the exposed skin of her legs. Aria grinned mischievously. She wouldn't actually let him try anything in the theatre, but she wasn't completely above teasing him just a bit.

"Oh yeah?" Aria questioned. She turned herself towards him and then crossed her legs in a way that caused him to bring his eyes level with hers. "What is it you want to talk about then?"

Ezra stared at her intently. He didn't say anything for a while and it wasn't far from Aria's mind that they didn't have all the time in the world, as much as she wished they did. Hesitantly Ezra reached a hand up, cupping her face and brushing the pad of his thumb over her cheek. She held his hand to her face, leaning into his touch. They stayed just like that, comfortable enough that they didn't need to speak. The only thing that caused them to break apart was the sound of Aria's phone vibrating in her bag.

_**Oh lala, Aria. All alone in a dark theatre with Fitz… wonder how that's going to look in the police report. –A.**_

Just as Aria was closing the message and checking her surroundings, she saw her mother entering the theatre and the two turned forward, assuming the positions they had been in just before Ella had left. Perhaps A had been warning her that her mother was returning to the theatre. But how had A known that? The bitch was really starting to creep Aria the hell out.

*PLL*

Aria and Spencer sat beside each other on Aria's bedroom floor, propped up on the side of her bed with their math books open in front of them. After switching to part-time independent study a week ago, Aria found herself lagging in pre-calculus and had called Spencer that morning for help on the chapter's assignments. It was Sunday, and though Spencer was spending much of the day with her family, her parents had agreed to let Spencer spend the night as long as they were getting work done. Now the two girls were solving equations together, Spencer more rapidly than Aria.

"Have you still been getting messages from A?" Spencer said, not once taking her eyes off of the book in front of her.

"Have you?" Aria quirked an eyebrow. She hadn't spent a ton of time with any of the girls outside of school, a part of her still wanted to push them away for fear of judgment should any of them find out about Elliot. Except for Emily, they hadn't mentioned being harassed by A so Aria had assumed she was the only one.

"I kissed Wren." Spencer blurted out instead of answering the question. "You know, Melissa's fiancé? I kissed him. A threatened to tell Melissa, but she caught us before they got the chance. And A knows other stuff, too, stuff not even Ali would have known because she's **dead**."

"A knows stuff about me, too." Aria said quietly. Pushing her books away, Aria drew her knees to her chest and cradled them in her arms. She didn't dare look Spencer in the eye. "At first it was just something only Ali and I knew, but now they're threatening to tell this whole town something else entirely, things that happened after Ali. I just don't know how this person could possibly know anything."

"Well, what does A-"

"Aria." Ella knocked on the frame of her daughter's door, causing Aria to start before looking up. It hadn't occurred to her that she had left her door open in case her mother or Elliot needed anything.

"Yeah, Mom?" Aria's eye flitted back over to Spencer, the two silently agreeing that 'A' was not something to discuss with their parents.

"I know you girls are busy, buy I need you to take Elliot while I go pick something up for dinner." Ella stepped into the room, leading the toddler by the hand as she did so. Elliot immediately let go and ran towards Aria, who scooped him up with a broad smile on her face. "Mike's off with friends and your dad is staying late at his office."

"OK." She agreed readily. At the back of her mind, she found herself curious of her father's whereabouts, but the forefront was just happy to spend time with Elliot. "I think we could use a break, anyway, I'm starting to get a migraine."

"Alright." Ella spared a glance at Spencer, who appeared oblivious as she had continued to work out her equations on her sheet of scratch paper. "I won't be long."

"Bye, Mom."

"Bye, Nana!" Elliot called after Ella, waving his slightly pudgy arm in the air enthusiastically. Aria looked towards Spencer, still seemingly deep in thought. "We play?"

"Yeah, we can play." Aria giggled as Elliot pulled her to her feet and began to lead her out of her bedroom. "Spence, do you want to come play with us?"

"Sure…" Spencer drug the word out as she slowly closed her textbook and rose to feet. Aria tried not to notice the suspicious look in her friend's eyes as she followed them across the hall into Elliot's bedroom. He and Aria were emptying a giant tub of Legos onto the ground and Spencer found herself watching from the doorway as Aria helped Elliot put them together to build a tower. "Did Elliot just call your mom 'Nana'?"

Aria froze. Spencer could see her shoulders tense, and though her back was to her she knew that her petite friend had a deer in the headlights look in her eyes.

"Aria?" Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Aria rose to her feet and eventually turned to face Spencer. All the color had drained from her body and quite frankly, she looked as if she might heave right in the middle of the room. "Are you ok?"

"I- I mean… I'm – He's - He just-" Aria stammered, cutting herself on when she saw Spencer's eyes grow wider by the second.

"Are you serious?" Spencer exclaimed, lowering her voice so as not to alarm Elliot who was still happily stacking his legos. "Aria, you can't – I mean. Jesus, we were _fourteen _when you left for Iceland!"

"Yeah, I remember." Aria spat back. She didn't mean to get ugly, but she didn't know how else to be. "It just… happened. Spencer, you can**not** tell anyone! You can't!"

"It's your secret." Spencer replied warily, eyes going from Aria to Elliot and back to Aria. "Do what you want with it. But why didn't you tell us a long time ago? I mean, geez, you've been back for almost two months already! Halloween is next week! Why didn't you tell us while you were in Iceland? You could have written us."

"Spencer, I wasn't even fourteen yet when I got pregnant, I was a little freaked out! And coming back here has been Hell for me!" Aria kneeled back down to her son, and kissed him on the side of his head. "Elliot, Spencer and I are going to be across the hall, ok?"

"Kay." Elliot didn't even look up from his blocks, just continued to stack one onto another and another. Aria walked straight past Spencer and across the hall into her bedroom, holding the door open for her friend. After Spencer had followed her, she closed the door save for a couple of inches, allowing her to still keep an eye on Elliot.

"Look, I didn't know what I was doing, ok? My parents didn't take it well, clearly. My dad wanted to force me into getting an abortion, for God's sake! And when my mom convinced him that that was a terrible idea he shipped us all to Iceland." Aria covered her face with her hands. "I **couldn't** tell you guys. I couldn't."

"Wait a minute… you were pregnant before you left for Iceland?" Spencer's eyes practically popped out of her face. "You got pregnant _here_?"

"Yes." Aria admitted. "I didn't hook up with some random guy in a foreign country, Spence."

"Well, apparently you hooked up with some random guy in your own hometown." Spencer replied sarcastically. "Who was it?"

"What?"

"You know what. Aria, you can't just drop a bomb like this and expect me not to have questions!"

"I can't tell you…" Aria muttered, crossing the room and dropping onto the bed.

"Why not?" Spencer joined her, now anxious to find out as many answers as she could. "Were you-"

"No!" Aria was so tired of people assuming that if she'd had sex it had to have been rape. "I wasn't raped. I wish people would stop assuming that that's what this is."

"People? So who else knows?"

"No one." Aria rolled her eyes, hoping that projecting an attitude of sorts would keep her from crying. "Look, Spencer, I'm not proud of the choice I made to have sex that young; I wasn't ready. Hell, I'm still not ready. But I love Elliot, more than I love anything or anyone and it's my job to protect him. I can't do that if people find out about his sperm donor."

"What's so bad about him if it wasn't rape?" Spencer questioned, her tone shifting to a softer one upon seeing Aria's distress over the situation. "If I guess will you tell me?"

"Believe me, you could name every single guy at our school and you still wouldn't guess." Aria said softly. "If word gets out, Spencer, there will be a trial and he will go to jail. When I stress out, it stresses my son out and I can't put him through all of that and traumatize him for the rest of his life."

"So he's older?"

Aria glared at her friend. "Don't, Spence, please?"

"Aria-"

"NO, Spencer." Aria sprang from the bed, wrapping her arms around herself and pacing the length of her bedroom. "You do not understand. I've hurt my parents enough. My parents don't want anyone to know about this, so please just stop asking questions."

"Fine." Spencer quickly began to put her books into the messenger bad she had brought along with her. After she had secured the bag's strap across her chest she rose from her crouching position and stood with her head held high. "Don't tell me anything. I don't know what I really expected, considering we didn't hear from you for _two years_. Call me crazy, but I figured since we all have this crazy stalker out to get us, you'd trust me just a _little_ bit."

Spencer didn't give her the chance to say much else, she simply turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. A few seconds later, she hear the front door slam and only then did she let the tears fall.

*PLL*

The next morning at school, Aria made sure to arrive early so she could talk to Spencer privately. She had spent much of the evening the night prior debating whether or not she should call; it wasn't really a conversation she wanted to be having _at all_, much less over the phone. She had already bathed Elliot and put him to bed before she resolved to just meet up with Spencer at school the next day.

She had just rounded the corner into the hallway where she and Spencer's lockers were located when a new idea entirely crossed her mind. She spotted Spencer easily, with Hanna and Emily hovered around her. She hadn't seen the three of them hanging out too terribly often, but then again she hadn't paid much attention to anything except for Elliot, school, and now work. Hastily, she ducked into Ezra's classroom, shutting the door softly behind her.

"Aria." Ezra said, his voice shaky. "What, uh, what can I do for you?"

"Ez-" Aria snapped her mouth shut as she turned around and saw that she and Ezra were not alone. Mrs. Welch stood, clearly having been in the middle of a sentence, with her hands hovering in the air in front of her. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but is there anyway I can talk to you privately?"

"Is everything alright, dear?" Mrs. Welch asked and Aria began to filter through her brain for anything that she would need to talk to Ezra about that she wouldn't want someone else to hear. It hadn't gone unseen by Aria that the older woman had quite a crush on Ezra. Part of her found it humorous, but another part of her found the woman's quirkiness to be a threat.

"It's about… that writing competition." Aria was quite proud of herself for the recovery she'd just made. "I was hoping we could go over something I've been working on?"

"Yes, yes." It was then that Aria realized that Ezra was holding two tickets in his hand. She couldn't see from where she was what the tickets were for, and Ezra didn't give her much opportunity as he popped his briefcase open and slid them inside. "So, Mrs. Welch, I guess I'll speak to you at lunch regarding tonight?"

"Yes, at lunch." The woman was clearly not amused by the interruption. I'll see you in the teacher's lounge."

As she passed she gave Aria what could only be described as an evil eye and if Aria hadn't felt do intimidated, she would have laughed. This older woman held so much power, though, and Aria knew that. She couldn't risk pissing her off more than she already had. After Aria was certain the woman was out of earshot, she walked over to Ezra's desk and let everything come tumbling from her mouth before she had time to stop herself.

"Spencer found out about Elliot. She found out about Elliot and now she thinks I'm a whore and shes probably out there telling Hanna and Emily and I'm not really worried about Emily but Hanna will tell Mona and Mona will tell everyone. Feel free to stop me any second now because I am freaking out."

Ezra only stared for a few minutes, shocked that she had managed to fit all of that into one breath, and unsure how to take in all of this new information. "Stop."

"Okay." Aria pressed a hand to her chest, finally able to catch her breath. It felt marvelous, absolutely thrilling that she could just let it all out.

"How did Spencer find out?"

"She was helping me with Pre-Calc last night at my house and she just figured it out." Aria shook her head, unsure exactly what she was supposed to be feeling. Part of her wanted to be elated, she finally could talk to someone besides Ezra about her son, and not her brother. Another part of her knew that she couldn't have hoped to hide something so monumental from the girl with the genius I.Q. But, the biggest part of her was still upset that Spencer had figured it out.

"What are we going to do?" Ezra wasn't looking her in the eye when he asked, but he furrowed his brow and she could see him internally struggling with the question. She almost didn't realize that he had used the word 'we'.

"We? Wh-what are _we _going to do?" Aria felt foolish, stumbling over her words like this.

"If you'd still like this to be a 'we' situation, then yet." Ezra finally looked up and though his mouth was neutral, his eyes were smiling. They looked scared, petrified even, but they were smiling. "What are we going to do?"

If Aria could have known that someone was standing just outside of the door, listening intently to the entire conversation, she might have said something to dissuade them interpreting this as exactly what it was. However, having no clue that they had an audience, she replied simply with "I don't know."

**I'm going through and editing some things from previous chapters. In order for continuity within my story to be accurate, I have to alter some things… Trying to stay true to PLL timeline while creating my own is a pain! But I will post a list of the timeline so far at the start of the next chapter, which I PROMISE will be up by Sunday at the latest. If I get 10+ reviews, I'll update within 24 hours, if that's any motivation ;) Hope you all are doing well! I'll be replying to each of you first thing in the morning! LOVE.**


	8. Uh Oh, We're in Trouble

**I tried REALLY hard to get this posted Friday night, I promise, but our cable and internet got shut off by the time I finished. Then it got turned back on Saturday, but I wasn't home. Seeing as I'm such a party animal and everything. Har har, just kidding. I didn't get home until yesterday afternoon and honestly, I just forgot to update. But, here it is finally! It's still less than a week between updates, that has to count for something right? **

First through third period went by in a complete haze. She had second period with Emily, but they sat at opposite corners of the room and Aria didn't have the guts to catch the other girl's eye. If she just pretended that nothing was wrong, she convinced herself, then Emily would be none the wiser. Her classes were boring for the most part, though she suspected that mostly had to do with the fact that she wasn't paying much attention to anything anyone was saying. She didn't pay attention to anything at all until she got to Ezra's classroom fourth period and saw that he wasn't there. In his place were two security guards.

After the bell rang and everyone was seated, Aria could feel her body beginning to cover itself in gooseflesh. The students were all looking at one another, no one quite sure what was going on. The tension was thick in the air and it was suffocating.

"Where's Mr. Fitz?" Spencer asked, clearly agitated that they couldn't begin their lesson. Typical Spencer Hastings; pissed about not being able to do schoolwork. "We're supposed to be doing presentations today."

"Mr. Fitz is speaking with the principal." The taller of the guards said irritably. "There have been accusations of an inappropriate student-teacher relationship and we're here to get to the bottom of this."

"Each of you will be called to the Principal individually to answer some questions." The second man answered, arms folded over his chest. "Lauren Adams?"

One by one the students were called out of the classroom. None were gone for more than about two minutes, not possibly long enough to answer any questions. Beads of sweat began to form on Aria's hairline and she could feel her palms become clammier by the second.

"Hanna Marin." Aria's stomach dropped. She hadn't thought about the comments Hanna had made about her being 'hot for teacher'. Hanna's one minute with the principal honestly felt as though it went by the slowest. Aria could just imagine her mentioning the fact that she thought she and Ezra were 'crushing' on one another. It wasn't as if she had been so shy to voice that opinion any other time. When Hanna returned to the room and was unable to meet Aria's eye, she knew something was amiss.

"Aria Montgomery." Slowly, agonizingly slowly, she felt herself rising from her seat,slinging her bag over her shoulder and tip toeing towards the door. She could tell that her lack of speed was grating the guards' nerves, but she felt like she was treading through quicksand and was terrified of being eaten alive. Almost as if on cue, her phone began to ring. She knew what that meant. She considered ignoring the message, but ultimately her curiosity got the better of her.

**Better fess up, Aria, no one likes a liar. You can tell the truth, or I will. Xoxo –A.**

When she made it to the office, there were two police officers present. One she didn't recognize, and the other she had met on a few different occasions.

"Aria," Detective Wilden greeted in a menacing tone. "We need you to step inside." When she did, Aria was completely floored by what she found. There, with Ezra, Principal Williams, and one more police officer, sat Jenna Marshall. _Blind _Jenna. The Jenna she and her friends had made blind three years ago. Detective Wilden closed the door behind them and led Aria to a sear directly across from Jenna.

"Miss Marshall overheard a very intimate conversation between Mr. Fitz and a student and we're attempting to find out who that student is by voice." The third officer explained, handing a small notepad to Aria as she felt her body begin to quiver. "We're going to ask you to read a couple of phrases, see if Miss Marshall recognizes anything familiar about anyone's voice."

Aria knew better than to look at Ezra's face, but she had absolutely no doubt that it was completely colorless and filled with horror. She felt as though she might get sick right then and there.

"Aria?" Wilden said impatiently. "We need you to read those lines, we have to get to seven other students after you before the period is up." 

"I-uh." Aria slowly grazed her eyes across the lines that had been written on the page. She had said those words all of four hours ago. Ezra had just told her that he wanted the two of them to be a "we", he wanted to make things work between them. She had spent fifty percentage of the day avoiding the girls and the other fifty percent reminding herself not be caught smiling at nothing over his confession. The only thing she cared about right now was protecting Ezra.

"The student was me," She said, looking Wilden directly in the eye. "But you need to understand the context of this conversation. There is nothing inappropriate going on here."

"Oh, really?" Wilden leaned over the principal's desk, his weight resting on his palms. "What context would that be, hm? Because this conversation seems a lot more than inappropriate to me."

"Mr. Fitz is a great teacher." Aria began. She could see out of the corner of his eyes that he was absolutely petrified, his face becoming more green in tone. "He allows us to come to him with personal problems when we have no where else to go and there are certain things I can't talk to my parents about."

"That's what guidance counselors are for." Wilden countered, only to have Principal Williams quiet him with a simple hand gesture.

"Yes, well, what I've confided in Mr. Fitz about isn't exactly her business." Aria retorted with just a hint of snark in her voice. Suddenly it occurred to her exactly how she could turn the situation around. "It wouldn't even be_ his_ business, except that it's something I wrote about in a short story and he asked if the story had any personal meaning."

"And what exactly is this supposed story about, Miss Montgomery?" the principal finally spoke. She could see that he was skeptical, that he probably thought she was lying about the existence of such a story.

"It's about my son and the fact that my parents are pretending that they are his parents so I can be 'normal'." Aria said evenly, with a certain conviction in her voice that brought everyone to a stand still. Jenna gave an audible gasp, but other than that the room was silent. "I have the story right here in my school notebook if you'd like to read it, and I have a copy of Elliot's birth certificate at home. When I asked Mr. Fitz to look over my story a few weeks ago, he asked and I didn't want to lie."

"Well then what is this that Jenna overheard about Spencer?" Wilden was bound and determined to make her guilty. "It sounds to me like she found out about your relationship with Mr. Fitz, here."

"Spencer helps me with my Pre-Calculus homework." Aria said uneasily. She wasn't sure what Spencer had said when they'd called her in earlier, and she knew she couldn't ask. At least this part she didn't need to make up. "What she 'found out' about was the truth about Elliot. My mom asked us to watch him while she picked up dinner and Spencer heard him call my mother 'nana' instead of 'mom'; _that's_ what she found out."

"Why did Mr. Fitz refer to this as a 'we' situation?" Principal Williams questioned. He seemed much less cynical, but Aria knew she couldn't be too careful.

"Honestly, I don't know. Bad choice of words? Maybe if Jenna here told the whole story she would have mentioned that I even questioned him when he said that." Aria finally took a chance and looked directly at Ezra for just a second. He looked relieved and it lifted the weight that had been pressed against her chest. "He's always made us students feel like we can tell him anything, and I trusted him with my secret. My parents… they're too ashamed of my life choices to tell anyone that I had a baby. So I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. Like I said, if Jenna had heard the rest of the conversation, Mr. Fitz went on to say that he'd be there for me if and when I decide to tell people about Elliot and that he could talk to my parents at the parent-teacher conferences if it were necessary. Other than that, there is no 'we' here, Officer."

"Detective." She was corrected and she wanted so desperately to just roll her eyes.

"I'm sorry, _Detective_. This is Mr. Fitz's first teaching job. I think he was just trying to get his students to like him. This is all being completely blown out of proportion. It's all a big misunderstanding." Aria looked directly at Jenna when she spoke again. "And I certainly hope that my personal business doesn't leave this room, because it is **not** the entire student population's concern that I had a child at fourteen and a half. I confided in Mr. Fitz because I needed to speak with an adult that I trust about the situation, since I cannot speak to my parents. Is that not what teachers are supposed to do? Provide a safe place at school if we don't feel safe at home?"

Jenna looked down and Aria could see the look of shame on her face despite the glasses that covered her entire eye area. Aria felt guilty for putting all of this blame on Jenna. Of course their conversation hadn't sounded completely innocent, and of course someone overheard it for exactly what it was, as opposed to what she was trying to convince Detective Wilden of.

"Let me see this story you say you wrote about this son you say you have." Aria became furious at Wilden's audacity. How dare he say that she was lying? Granted, Ezra really hadn't seen the story she'd written, but why would she lie about having a baby? Digging through her bag, she pulled out her notebook and flipped through the appropriate page.

"There is my story." She said matter-of-factly. After Wilden took the book and began to scan the pages, she searched her bag for a different notebook – her journal. Opening the journal to the last page that she had written on, she removed a photograph of she and Elliot at the zoo – ironically enough, a photo that had been taken by Ezra – and offered it to Principal Williams. "And _that_ is my son."

It was clear that both the principal and the officers were taken aback by her and Elliot's absolutely uncanny resemblance.

"As you know, my family and I moved to Iceland just before the start of my freshman year." Aria glared at Wilden. He'd gathered this information from her earlier while pursuing the investigation of Ali's murder. "I was already two and a half months pregnant when we left. He was born March 3rd, 2009 at 1:19 in the morning in Reykjavik. Like I said, I have a copy of his birth certificate at home if you're interested in seeing it."

"Have you seen this story, Fitz?" Wilden shoved the notebook into Ezra's hands and he chanced a look at Aria. She gave the slightest nod, indicating that he should just tag along. He hadn't been asked to speak throughout this entire interrogation.

"Um, yes." Ezra cleared his throat, scanning the page and then turning it to continue reading. The opening sentence, though, caught his attention and he knew what to say. "I could tell that there was something more going on the second I started reading it, I was concerned. I've noticed that Aria tends to distance herself from other people, and it's evident in her class work. When I read the words 'Everything I am is a lie.' I had to see if I could get through to her. I honestly didn't get very far into this story, though. I could tell right off the bat that it was very personal to her."

"Why did she ask you to read it then?" Wilden snatched the notebook back from Ezra and Aria was fuming. "Of every teacher in this school, she chose to have_ you_ read this story? Tell me, why would she do that if it's so personal to her?"

"He's the one that suggested I start writing short stories." Aria knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do, interrupting the detective, but she couldn't watch Ezra being harassed. This was entirely her fault, she knew it, and she would do whatever she had to in order to keep the heat off of him. Quickly she rummaged through her bag until she found the flyer for the writing competition and handed it to the detective. "He told me I should consider entering this. He said he thought of all his students, I had the most potential to win. So, of course, I wanted his opinion before submitting my work."

"I do remember asking Mr. Fitz to tell his students about this competition." Principal Williams conceded and Aria could visibly see Ezra relax at that.

"Yes, and if you've read any of Miss Montgomery's work from my class, you would see how I came to the conclusion that she should submit." He added, pleased with himself and the way that this conversation had been twisted. Aria held her composure, despite wanting to crack a smile at his comment. She could he was resisting the same urge and the thought alone comforted her. Wilden and the two officers stepped aside, whispering to one another. It was clear to Aria that Wilden was not happy with this outcome; he always seemed to just want either her or her friends to be guilty of **something**.

"You girls may return to class." He finally said to Aria and Jenna, who still had yet to utter a word. It was as if the girl weren't even there. "We'll finish up here."

"Wh-" Aria began to question until she was cut off.. 

"Now." Principal Williams dismissed them. The third officer helped Jenna to her feet and led her to the door, Aria following close behind. The two of them walked down the hall in silence, save for the clicking of Jenna's walking stick against the linoleum. Aria wasn't even sure where Jenna's class was, but the blind girl seemed to know the exact route to take.

"Don't forget," Jenna said, just as Aria was about to turn the corner. "This is the second secret I've had to keep for you. Don't be surprised if one day I come asking for you to keep one of mine."

Aria simply stood there, completely dumbfounded as Jenna continued on her way, eventually going into what she knew was Miss Warhol's Economics class. What did that even mean? All she knew was that Jenna now had the power. Not only did she know about Elliot, but she knew about The Jenna Thing.

*PLL*

Later that night, after Elliot was in bed and Aria was sitting across the living room from her mother, the two of them reading silently. She knew that her parents had been contacted about the meeting she and the other students had with the principal and the police, she'd heard her parents talking about it. Neither had brought it up to her and she knew better than to mention it herself. She had wanted to call Ezra, but she knew after the whole fiasco, he was probably being watched. The police really didn't have evidence against him, but one could never be too careful. She had a gut wrenching feeling about where they now stood. They'd only just established it, and now she wasn't so sure.

After nearly an hour of silence, Aria could feel her mother's eyes boring into the side of her head. She had just turned to meet the gaze when there was a soft, but desperate, knock on the front door.

Ella closed her book and swiftly answered the door. Aria craned her neck, trying to see who her mother was talking to. She was shocked, to say the least, when her mother returned with Spencer in tow.

"H-hi." Spencer stuttered. Aria looked at the clock at noticed that it was nearly eleven o'clock.

"Everything ok, Spence?" Aria stood from her spot on the couch and approached the taller girl. Ella excused herself, grabbing her book and heading down the hall to she and Byron's bedroom."It's kinda late."

"I thought about calling you," Spencer admitted. "but I felt like I needed to talk to you in person first."

"First?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "Spencer, what's going on?"

"When they called me in to the office this morning they told me that they knew you were the student they were looking for." Spencer said quickly. "Jenna heard you talking about me to Mr. Fitz and wanted to know what I knew. I swear, though, I didn't say anything to them about Elliot."

"What about Emily? And Hanna?" Aria questioned. "Did you say something to them? Because I saw you talking to them before school early this morning, and whatever it was they were pretty shocked by what you said." The look on Spencer's face said everything. Aria had never felt more betrayed in her life. She had trusted Spencer with this, and now she was regretting that decision. "I can't believe you!"

"I didn't tell them, I swear!" Spencer began to cry uncontrollably. "A sent them pictures and"

"Pictures?" Aria shrieked, clasping a hand over her mouth and looking towards the hallway where her mother had disappeared to. When she was certain her parents weren't coming she continued. "What the hell do you mean?"

"Pictures of you and Elliot, one from when he was born and one from I guess a few days ago." Spencer explained. "And the caption said 'Confused? Why don't you ask Spencer to explain?'"

Aria was frantic now. The only place she had pictures from Elliot's birth were on her father's laptop, as she hadn't been allowed one of her own until returning to Rosewood. Somehow A had broken into their home, or used her father's laptop at the college. A could truly be anybody.

"I'm so, so sorry, Aria." Spencer continued to cry. "I swear, I was never going to tell them."

"Ok."

"Aria, you have to believe me." Spencer pleaded. Aria just nodded, but she knew she looked indifferent. It wasn't Spencer's fault, she couldn't blame her, but she had to be angry at someone. A didn't have a face yet, but now more than ever Aria needed to put a face to the bitch that was making her life Hell.

*PLL*

The next few days, Aria just felt numb. People were still talking, and other teachers were being questioned about Ezra and whether or not they felt he was inappropriate with his students. Aria dreaded the day they called Mrs. Welch in, no doubt the woman would mention their many run-ins. Thankfully, though, it wasn't until Friday that Hanna and Emily even mentioned the pictures A had sent them.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Hanna blurted out over lunch. Aria had taken to sitting with them and eating before heading home to change for work. It had definitely been awkward, but Aria knew that she needed to reconnect with them. A was not joking and now that Jenna knew that they had blinded her, they need each other.

"When, Han?" Aria spit back. "When would you have liked me to tell you?"

"You could have at least told us you cashed in your v-card after it happened." Hanna folded her arms. Aria stifled a giggle. It was just like Hanna to be upset at the wrong information. While Spencer and Emily were upset that she'd withheld Elliot, Hanna was upset that she'd withheld her first sexual encounter.

"I was embarrassed, ok?" Aria admitted. She looked around the cafeteria. People were talking about her, they'd been talking about her all week, but she didn't want anyone to be able to talk about this. "I regretted it right away, and it wasn't even good! It just… hurt, a lot. Enough that I started crying and then it was just over. It didn't even last ten minutes. Besides, you would have asked who it was, and I just couldn't tell you that."

"Well who was it?" Emily furrowed her brow, adopting the worried expression she'd mastered throughout the years. "I know he was older, but you can tell us, Aria. You can trust us."

"I do." Aria said. As angry as she was over everything that had transpired, deep down she still trusted them. They were still her friends; the evidence of that was looking her directly in the face. "I do trust you guys, it's complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it!" Hanna said. "I wanna know who he is!"

"Hanna." Spencer scolded. "Not really appropriate. She doesn't want us to know, it's her business."

"I do want you to know, but," Aria dropped her voice to a whisper, ever-conscious of the eyes and ears surrounding them. "I don't want A to find out."

"A finds everything out anyway, you might as well tell us!" Hanna probably thought it was a reasonable request. Aria stared the three girls down. There was a point; A had found a way to get into everything. What could A do that could possibly make this situation worse?

"Ok." She expelled a breath she had been holding. Perhaps if she just put it out in the open finally, things would start to get better. "I'll tell you."

Emily and Hanna leaned over the table, closing in the space between Aria and themselves. Spencer didn't move, though Aria could see from the slight peak of her brow that she was just as interested. Aria took in a deep breath. She had so much as spoken the name of Elliot's father since she had discovered she was pregnant and that was over two years ago.

"You guys can't judge me for this because I _know_ that it was dumb." Aria surveyed her surroundings once again, while the other three waited patiently. "I will be glad to offer the whole story later, in private, but-"

"Just spill already!" Hanna exclaimed, clearly excited to hear the latest scoop. Aria rolled her eyes but did as she was told.

"Ian is Elliot's father."

**A lot of you said you thought Jason was the dad, but I had always planned for it to be Ian. And when you guys started guessing, I considered changing it, but things will make much more sense in the next chapter, Jason's not the dad but he was there! I originally wanted only Spencer to find out, but where's the fun in that? Please don't hate me. I know this chapter was short, but things are about to blow up now that the father's identity has been revealed. The girls are going to become much more prominent from here on out. Now that the police are involved, as they aren't done being involved, Ezra isn't. He won't be gone, I swear, but he has to lay low for a couple chapters. **

**And as far as the timeline for the story goes, I haven't had time to actually go in and edit the old chapters yet, but this is the timeline I've been working with:**

**November 24th, 1994 – Aria's birthday. **

**Memorial Day 2008 – Alison disappears.**

**July 4th, 2008 – Aria loses virginity and gets pregnant.**

**September 8th, 2008 (freshman year) - Aria and family leave for Iceland.**

**March 24th, 2009 – Aria has her baby: Elliot Michael Montgomery.**

**September 6th, 2010 (JR year) – Aria and family return to Rosewood.**

**As of now, it is almost Halloween in the story. And for the story's sake, Pennsylvania has the same licensing laws as Montana and other such states where you may get a permit at fourteen-fourteen-and-a-half and may receive a driver's license at fifteen. She is almost sixteen now, but was in Iceland at the time of her fifteenth birthday. The next chapter picks up two days later, on Halloween **


	9. In the Emerald City

Sunday afternoon, Aria was arguing with Elliot over what costume he would wear for trick-or-treating the next night. Elliot couldn't even understand the holiday and yet here he was, refusing both costumes that had been selected. Her parents had purchased a Barney costume, which Aria detested. She had never been a fan of the show, and Elliot never seen it. Why her parents had even thought it was a good idea absolutely muddled her mind. Friday, after Aria had received her first paycheck, she promptly drove to Philadelphia to the nearest Toys R Us and had hunted high and low for something more appropriate. Considering that Halloween had been only 2 days away, Aria felt like she'd hit the jackpot when she found a lion costume in Elliot's size.

The previous year, Elliot had only been seven months old and Halloween wasn't really a holiday in Iceland so Aria hadn't bothered with dressing him up. This year, she was taking him trick-or-treating whether her parents liked it or not. If only Elliot would let her dress him in his costume. She had even gone to a thrift store and found a fairly inexpensive Dorothy Gail costume and had every intention of wearing it. She had initially wanted to dress Elliot as Max from Where the Wild Things Are, but at least this way they could wearing coordinating costumes.

"Elliot, we're going to dress up, see?" Aria held up her own costume against her body to demonstrate that she had a costume of her own for the night. "We're going to get candy and-"

"Candy!" Elliot squealed, balling his hands into fist and pumping them repeatedly into the air. Aria hadn't let him have anything of the sort until recently and she was already regretting it. For a week, anytime she wanted him to pick up his toys he would say 'candy, please?' and Aria wanted to bang her head against a wall each and every time. She knew she wouldn't even let him eat too much of the candy he would get tonight, but she wanted him to enjoy dressing up and trick-or-treating like every other child did.

"You have to dress up if you want candy." Aria argued, hands on her hips. It was kind of ridiculous that she was arguing with a toddler, but sometimes things couldn't be helped. The argument was won, however, because Elliot began to scramble for his costume, trying to figure out exactly how he was supposed to put it on. Aria shook her head and let out a laugh. "Here, Handsome let Mama help you."

After she'd zipped him into the outfit, she took a step back to admire the boy. He crossed the room to look at himself in the mirror. Pleased with what he saw, he began to growl at his reflection and raised his hands as if they were paws. Aria quickly pulled out her phone and snapped as many pictures as she could before she turned on the camcorder feature.

"Elliot! Elliot look at Mama!" She called until he turned to face her, smiling broadly when he saw that she had the camera going. "Say 'roar!'" She instructed with a laugh.

"Rawr!" Elliot snarled, baring his teeth and 'claws' to her. "Me Simba!"

"Yeah," Aria agreed, continuing her recording. "You're a lion, like Simba!"

"Rawr!" Elliot returned to the mirror, now making faces at himself. Aria turned off the recording and immediately synced the phone to her laptop, copying the photos and video to her hard drive. A knock on her door frame pulled her from her concentration.

"You were right." Ella said, watching Elliot playing with a small smile. "That is the most precious Lion costume. I don't know why your father chose Barney."

"Yeah, me neither." Aria agreed. "What time will you guys be back? I don't want to be in Philly too late."

"I would think by eight o'clock or so." Ella said. "But, Aria, please do not push your father today. He's still not one hundred percent on board with you taking Elliot trick or treating by yourself."

"As long as people see you two around town with him, what's the difference?" Aria questioned. She and her mother had come to a mutual understanding recently, and Aria didn't want to rock the boat. As long as Ella didn't try to put herself between she and Elliot more than was necessary, Aria could tolerate her father. "You said it was fine." 

"I'm fine with it, yes." Ella walked into the room, closing the door behind her and then perching herself on the edge of the bed. "Aria, you know your father. He's set in his ways. I'm not saying I agree with his ways all the time, but let's not rock the boat."

"You know what, Mom?" Aria joined her mother on the bed, watching as Elliot moved from the mirror to one of her floor-level bookshelves and began to flip through pages. "It's not my place to say anything. Just like, according to Dad, it's not place to be in charge of anybody else's life, but I cannot keep my mouth shut anymore. So if you're worried about rocking anyone's boat, maybe you should talk to Dad about some of the skeletons hiding in his side of the closet._ He's_ the one that's making everything so shaky, not me."

*PLL*

At eight o'clock on the dot, Aria was putting Elliot into her back seat, preparing to drive out to Philadelphia. If she got there before 9, they could trick-or-treat for at least an hour before she had to come back home. On the way out of town, Aria stopped by the Fields' house and picked up Emily. Spencer and Hanna were meeting them in Philly so that Aria wouldn't have to take Elliot by herself. She had wanted to invite Ezra instead of the girls, but they still weren't in the clear. Ezra had sent her a text the night before telling her that the police were doing extensive research of his past to make sure there were no indicators of pedophilia. She knew better than to even respond to the message.

As Emily buckled herself in, she looked over her shoulder at the toddler in the back seat and grinned. Of the three girls, she had been the most accepting of the fact so far. Spencer was mostly annoyed that Aria hadn't said something sooner and Hanna thought Elliot was cute, but wasn't much of a kid person. Emily was the only one that seemed really interested in getting to know Elliot as her son. "It's crazy how much he looks like you." She commented. "I still can't believe you have a baby."

"Me neither, sometimes." Aria agreed, pulling away from the curb and heading towards the freeway. "I look at him, and I see a little version of myself. He's exactly like me, Em, but sometimes I look at him and I just can't believe he's mine."

"I can't believe he's _Ian's_." Emily blurted out, the name rolling off of her tongue in distaste. Almost immediately upon seeing the look of plain and utter hurt on Aria's face Emily clamped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry. I did _not_ mean that the way it just sounded."

"No, it's ok." Aria gritted her teeth. Her friends hadn't said or asked much when she admitted to Elliot's true parentage, but she hadn't anticipated that lasting very long. "It is what it is. I can't believe it, either."

"It's just… I always thought you had a thing for Noel back then." Emily tried to explain, turning around in her seat completely, staring out of the windshield to the road ahead. "Even Jason wouldn't have been such a shock."

"Jason?" Aria said, shocked at the accusation. "Why would you say that, Em?"

"Well, he always had a thing for you." Emily said nonchalantly. "You can't tell me you never noticed."

"I didn't notice anything like that." Aria said quickly. "And besides, I didn't have a _thing _for Ian; it just happened. One time and one time only."

"But why him?" Emily implored and Aria simply didn't know how to answer. There was nothing she could say in response because she didn't really know why.

"Call it a crime of passion." She said after a few beats. "Honestly, Em, can we not talk about this? Spencer's already acting really weird about it, I don't need it from you and Han, too."

"I'm sorry, Aria." Emily said as turned just slightly in her seat to face her friend as she drove. "But, I mean, come on. It's kind of a lot to take in. We haven't seen you in two years, then not only do we find out you have a son but he's Spencer's would-b brother-in-law's child? It's-"

"A lot. Yeah, I know." Aria replied sarcastically, not enjoying where Emily was heading with this. She knew it would take a while for her friends to adjust, she hadn't expected them to welcome the news with open arms. Still, though, she wished that they would just drop it.

"Can I just please ask you one question?" Emily implored. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but can I just ask you one thing, please?"

Aria chose to not respond. She wanted to tell the girl that she could ask her anything, but truth be told she wasn't sure she had an answer for everything just yet. After several beats of silence, Emily spoke again.

"Why didn't you tell Ian about Elliot?"

Aria thought she might crash when the words escaped Emily's mouth. She had an answer for this question, but would giving up that information be worth the judgment she would receive? She wasn't sure, so instead of telling the entire truth, she opted for something less complex.

"My dad wanted to report it as a rape. They didn't even know that it was an older guy, but Byron believes it's better to say I was raped than to just say I made a bad choice. If they had found out it had been a legal adult, Ian would have gone to prison. Why ruin his life? We did a stupid thing, but I'm not rotting in a jail cell over it and neither should he."

"You could at least give him the option to be in his own son's life." Emily said quietly. "How do you think he's going to feel in five years when he finds out about all of this? And what about Elliot? Doesn't he deserve to have both parents? I mean-"

"Emily." Aria warned. Of course all of this had crossed her mind. Every minute of every day she wished Elliot could have that, that there was a way for it to be that simple. Emily didn't understand that she was protecting her son the best way she knew how. It wasn't as though Ian thought she was innocent their one time together, if she told him he wasn't the father he'd probably believe her.

Emily didn't say anything after that until they'd reached the coffee shop that Hanna and Spencer had agreed to meet them at. It wasn't even until Aria was standing with all of them together that she noticed what they were wearing. Emily had dressed as a Scarecrow, Spencer as a Tin Girl and Hanna as Glinda the Good Witch. There was a tension in the air up whenever they were together until that point. The moment Spencer and Hanna laid eyes on Elliot, Aria could see any judgmental thoughts that might have been secretly carrying melt away.

"He is s cute!" Hanna gushed, bending down to become eye level with Elliot. "Hi!"

"Who?" Elliot said, pointed to Hanna and looking up to Aria.

"That's Hanna." Aria explained, ruffling his hair. "And there's Spencer, you remember her right?"

Spencer smiled, but still hung back a few feet. It was as if she were scared to get too close. Aria wasn't expecting her to suddenly bond with her son, not even close, but the fact that she was dressed up and even out here with the rest of them made her feel better about opening up to the girls. Spencer had made it no secret that she was far from thrilled to know that Elliot was related to her sister's ex-fiancé, but ultimately they all had agreed that what was done was done and nothing could be done about it now.

"Come on, guys." Emily said as she took hold of Elliot's free hand, his other clutching tightly to his candy bucket. "We're off to see the Wizard."

Aria smiled at the gesture, Emily holding Elliot's little hand in her own, and the four of them made their way into the night.

*PLL*

After returning home and putting Elliot to bed, Aria set up at her computer desk and opened up her French text book. It was one of the classes she was taking through independent study and the only class for which she hadn't completed the work for the entire week. She had to take her mid-terms I three days and she needed to be sure she was prepared.

It was just after one in the morning and Aria felt ready to drop when her phone buzzed. Without a thought, she reached across the desk and tapped the screen to read the desk. She'd had such a good time taking Elliot out and had felt more relaxed around the girls than she had since she'd been back that she wanted to roll her eyes at the irony of what she was seeing. If only what she was seeing wasn't so completely terrifying.

When she opened the attachment, her face blanched. A had somehow snapped a picture of the four girls walking through Philadelphia. Each of them could be seem very clearly, Except for Aria, whose face was just slightly covered by her hair as she bowed her head and kissed the top of Elliot's. The next picture was one of Ezra holding Elliot on their trip to the zoo. Then another came in of she and Ezra kissing in his classroom, though it was clearly taken from outside the classroom window. The last picture that popped up on her screen terrified her. It was fourth of July the summer Ali had gone missing. In the picture, Aria was seated in the passenger seat of Ian Thomas' car, and the older man was leaning over, kissing her neck. They had been in the middle of nowhere when it happened, she should have seen whomever it was that was taking the picture, but that entire night was a blur. Aria felt the tears streaming down her face as another message popped up onto her screen.

"**Help your mom dig up those skeletons, Aria, or I'll dig up yours where everyone can see. - A"**

Aria quickly dialed Ezra's number. After the first three rings she realized what it was that she was doing and hung up, opting to call Spencer instead. It was almost one thirty and she knew Spencer tended to stay awake most nights until two or three in the morning. When the phone was finally answered, Aria choked out a sob so loud she was afraid she'd wake her parents.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked frantically. "Is Elliot ok?"

"He-he's fine, but," Aria had to breathe deeply for several minutes before she could speak coherently. "A has pictures of me and Ian and pictures of me and Elliot and," Aria paused and took another breath. "A wants me to tell my mom that my dad's been having an affair."

"I'll be right over." It took Spencer seven minutes flat to pull up in front of the Montgomery house. Aria had crept down the stairs and was sitting on the front porch swing by the time Spencer had parked and jumped out of her car. Running up the stairs and standing in front of Aria, she demanded breathlessly, "What happened?"

Aria simply handed over the phone. Spencer looked at the message and her eyes grew three times in size. Aria knew it probably wasn't smart to reveal her relationship with Ezra, or perhaps now lack thereof, to anyone but what could she lose at this point? As it was, when she'd gotten home her mother had practically iced her out and her father was completely clueless. She had to tell her mother the truth, once and for all, or she would find out everything from the last person anyone wanted a secret to be revealed by.

"Is that- he- what the hell?" Spencer stammered, completely perplexed by what she was seeing. "That had better not be who I think it is!"

"Who do you think it is?" Aria asked sarcastically, finally looking up to meet Spencer's eye.

"Oh, my God." Spencer sat down. The look of shock was slowly being replaced with one of pure anger. "You and a teacher? Aria!"

Her voice was laced with fury and condescend and betrayal. Aria opened her mouth to respond, but thought better of it and simply nodded instead. Spencer glared at her and Aria's eyes dropped to her hands that were folded in her lap. Aria could see in her peripheral vision that Spencer's hands were balled into fists and they were visibly shaking. "Let me explain, Spence."

"Explain what?" Spencer said, letting her emotions run wild. "Explain that not only did you keep the fact that you had a baby from us, but now you've been screwing a teacher, too?"

"It's not like that!" Aria insisted, standing from the porch swing and pacing in front of her friend. "We haven't actually done anything, just kissed."

"And apparently playing house at the zoo!" Spencer remarked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We didn't plan that." Aria rolled her eyes. "I took Elliot and he happened to be there so we hung out." She stopped, squarely facing the other girl and locking eyes with her. "Spencer, I met him before I knew he was our teacher. I let him think I was in college and we connected. Then I realized that he was teaching English and we tried to end things. Then at the zoo it was obvious that ending things wasn't going to happen. Now that the police are getting involved I'm pretty sure things are over."

"As they should be!" Spencer spat out. "I'm sorry, Aria, but I don't know how I'm supposed to react to this. First you have a child with Ian that you don't tell us about, then you have an affair with a teacher and you don't tell us about."

"I promised Ezra!" Aria refuted. She wasn't sure what exactly she had expected she would get from Spencer, but something about her reaction was off. "We weren't even really dating, exactly. We've kissed a few times and spent one day together at the zoo but that's _it_. I wouldn't even call it an affair!" 

"Well obviously it's more than just kissing or you wouldn't be risking his career and neither would he." Spencer stood from the bench.

"That's not fair."

"It's plenty fair, Aria." Spencer held a hand up to quiet her. "It has to be a hell of a lot more than just kissing to him if he's risking the life he has for the one he would have with you."

The words were out before anything could be done to stop them and Aria's hand was across Spencer's cheek before she knew what she was doing. The girls stared each other down, Aria feeling terrible for slapping Spencer while Spencer resolved to hold onto her anger. They said nothing as Spencer stepped off the porch and headed back to her car. Spencer didn't so much as raise her eyes to Aria as she pulled away from the house and headed back home. Aria wrapped her arms around herself and stormed back into the house. No doubt that whoever was behind the madness was out there watching, pleased with their handiwork. Aria decided then and there that she and her mother would be having a very serious discussion regarding her father the next day.

*PLL*

Ella sat on the couch in the family room with Aria standing in the foyer, Elliot on her hip. Her mother was holding in her hands a letter and a printed copy of the picture of Aria and Ian that fateful night. When Aria had come home from work and discovered that her dad was staying late at the college, she decided she needed to speak up. She had just stepped into the foyer when she saw her mother with the letter in one hand and a picture in the other. Aria didn't have to ask what her mother was looking at.

"How long have you known?" Ella said hoarsely, her voice caught in her throat to hold back the emotion. "How long have you been keeping this from me, Aria? After everything I've done, how long have you kept this from me?"

Aria set her son down and told him to head into the den to play with the toys he had set up in there. She waited until her mother finally looked back up at her before speaking. "Ali and I caught him with… her three years ago."

"Three _years_?" Ella shrieked. "You knew about this for three years and you have said nothing?"

"Dad said it was a one-time thing." Aria tried to explain, knowing that it was truly futile. She was losing an uphill battle and she deserved the ramifications. "He told me that he was going to tell you that night." This was not a lie. "You never mentioned it, and you guys never split up, I thought I could just forget it ever happened."

"Well, it wasn't just a one-time thing." Ella spat. Standing from the couch, she crossed the room and handed the letter to her daughter. "Never, not even when you were coming to me and telling me that you were pregnant, have I ever been so disappointed in you, Aria Nicole. I have stood by you, supported your decisions, caused more tension between your father and I then ever should have been necessary to discover that you were lying to me? For him?"

"It wasn't _for_ him. And I wasn't lying to you." Aria attempted to find an answer that would make this easier for her mother to handle. "I just didn't…"

"Tell me the whole truth?" Ella finished for her, ticking an eyebrow as she handed over the photograph. "I would say that's the understatement of the millennium." Ella looked past Aria and made her way down the hall to the master bedroom, returning several minutes later with the suitcases in her hands. "I've rented a room for the next two weeks. When your father comes home, you can tell him the whole truth. I don't know when I will be back, if at all. Tell him to thank Meredith."

"Mom," Aria tried to argue, reached for her mother as she walked past her and out the front door. Elliot stood up from where he had been playing and rushed into the foyer, looking after his grandmother sadly.

"Nana bye bye?"

"For a little while, Handsome." Aria said, running a hand through his hair and holding him close to her side. She hated this. She hated that she had single-handedly destroyed everything around her. Her mother hated her. Her father was ashamed of her and in a matter of hours would hate her, too. Elliot, whom she'd been trying to protect, was getting more confused by the day. Mike was getting the ass-end of it all, everything around him changing without his consent or consideration. And Ezra… his world was about to fall to pieces because the picture Aria held in her hand was not that of Ian and herself, but one of she, Ezra and Elliot smiling and enjoying a warm September day at the Philadelphia Zoo. It was as if nothing good could possibly come from visiting that city. Finally, Aria brought herself to read the letter that had been the cause of today's destruction.

"**I thought you had learned to keep closer tabs on your daughter's extra curricular activities. Teen pregnancy not enough controversy? Guess that's why you're husband's been straying; you give them both too long a leash. Don't believe me? Just ask Aria.**

**-A."**


	10. You Again

Ella didn't return home the next day, or the next. She forwarded Aria's calls and ignored her texts. Her father apparently had spoken to Ella and despite the ample opportunity to out her daughter's inappropriate rendezvous with Ezra, Ella had kept mum. Byron was furious with Aria, and they'd exchanged some choice words over the matter the night Ella had left, but mostly he'd been avoiding her at all costs. Tuesday night Mike informed her that he was going to Noel Kahn's house for a few days, until everything blew over and part of her wished she and Elliot could run away to Noel's, too.

It was Thursday that the dominoes were beginning to fall onto one another. Spencer hadn't brought up the revelation that Aria had made Sunday night, and Aria hadn't been naïve enough to mention it to either Emily or Hanna. Between Spencer and her mother, Aria felt as though she were walking on top of a greenhouse, waiting for the glass to break beneath her feet. When she arrived in fourth period, Ezra wasn't there. Spencer looked just as shocked as she felt so she knew, or rather hoped, that it meant Spencer hadn't said anything. As Aria was about to text her mother to plead not to put Ezra behind bars, she received a text from a number she didn't recognize saying that it was Ezra and that he was interviewing at Hollis College that morning, not to worry.

He also mentioned that he would be reading a short story under a different name in the next town over, Ashbury, if she wanted to come. Aria readily agreed, knowing that it meant she'd have to bring Elliot along. She replied asking what type of location it was and he informed her that it was a café and if she felt it safe, Elliot was more than welcome. Aria glanced around her and replied that she and Elliot would be there when she got off work.

After fourth period, Aria headed straight for the teacher's lounge. Normally she would eat lunch with the girls and then head home to get ready for work, but today she needed to meet with her French and Pre-Calculus teachers to take her mid-term examinations. When she got there, she felt her blood run ice cold. All of the teachers that were already there looked at her and the hatred was evident in their eyes. She wanted to scream, to tell each of them that they didn't know what they were talking about and to shut up, but nobody was talking, except for one Jenna Marshall. In the corner, Jenna sat with one of her teachers, Aria didn't recognize her, and was quietly reciting answers to a midterm as the teacher recorded them and made marks on a blank exam sheet.

It took a few minutes, but Aria finally made it across the lounge to where Madame Beaumont was waiting with her mid-term. The entire forty minutes that it took for her to complete the exam, Aria was hyper-aware that although Jenna couldn't see, the girl's eyes bore into her backside. She hadn't so much as seen Jenna around school since she'd gone to the principal about her and Ezra, and she honestly hoped she wouldn't for a long, long time. Two hours after arriving, she'd finished both exams and fled from the room as quickly as she could manage. She'd almost made it to the parking lot when she heard her name being called out.

"Aria." She stopped, not daring to turn around because the voice she heard was one she recognized. The girl was like a ninja. Her cane click-clacked against the pavement as Jenna approached her, eventually coming to a stop barely a foot away. "I told you I'd be asking for a favor. I hope you're ready to pay up."

"What favor?" Aria's voice dropped to the same level Jenna's had been at. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer, but Jenna had information that could land a lot of people behind bars. If she and the girls had to be punished, that was one thing, but she wasn't letting anyone take Elliot from her.

"You know my brother, Toby?" Jenna stated. It wasn't a question; they both knew that Aria knew exactly who she was talking about. "He's finally coming home from reform school today."

"Yeah?"

"He, more than anyone, deserves an apology," Jenna paused, a wicked grin spreading across her delicate face. "And you're going to make sure he gets what he deserves as a welcome home gift. If he happens to be in touch with Rosewood PD, well, I can't be held responsible for his actions."

A confession. That was Jenna's favor. Somehow or another, Jenna knew that they – along with Ali – had been the ones to blind her all of those years ago. Her brother had taken the fall, and had been away at reform school ever since. It was common knowledge that he'd been convinced that he was the one to do it, and hated himself for it. By the time Aria turned around, Jenna was gone and Aria felt the air around her suddenly drop by several degrees. Right on cue, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"**When you bury your secrets you should expect for them to be dug up. Karma's a bitch, just like you and your posse. Have a nice day. – A." **

*PLL*

After getting off of work, on her way to pick up Elliot, Aria called Emily. Surely she was out of swim practice by now. She would have called Spencer, if Spencer weren't still royally pissed about Ezra. Hanna had said herself that although Elliot was adorable, she wasn't really a kid person so that left Emily. Mike was still staying at Noel's and she didn't want to put this on him. Aria had no intentions of telling the girls what she was about to do, but she also hadn't any intentions of letting her son tag along, either. It took six rings but Emily finally answered.

"_Hello?_"

"Em! Hey, I hate to ask but I really, really need a favor." Aria knew she sounded desperate but, really, she was.

"_What's up?_"

"Do you think you can meet me at my place?" Aria asked tentatively. "My dad isn't home and Mike is at a friends and there's somewhere I need to be and I can't take Elliot."

"_Where's your mom?_"

"She, uh," Aria mentally slapped herself. She hadn't even considered Emily asking. She tried to think of a reason, any reason, that her mother wouldn't be taking care of Elliot that night. "She's out of town. She had, um, a gallery thing in Philly. I'll only be, like, half an hour. Please, Em? I am begging you."

"_Please don't beg,_" Emily laughed. "_I'll be there in a bit, ok? I'm just going to wash my hair first."_

"Thank you so much, Emily!" Aria sighed with relief. "I owe you big time!"

"_Do you mind if I bring a friend?"_

"Um sure, I guess." Aria wasn't sure whom Emily was referring to. She knew that Emily had recently broken up with her long-term boyfriend, Ben, and had insisted they would not be rekindling their relationship. She also knew that Emily and Hanna hung out fairly often outside of school, but she doubted Hanna would be a ton of help in this situation. "What friend? I just wanna know who's going to be around Elliot. I trust you, Em. I'd just like to know…"

"_You know that new girl, Maya?" _Emily asked, and there was a certain cautiousness to her voice that made Aria's mouth go dry. "_She and I were supposed to hang out tonight. Maybe she can come help me with Elliot?_"

"Yeah, that's fine." Aria wasn't too familiar with Maya, but if made Emily more comfortable to watch Elliot if she had someone with her then so be it. "I'm picking him up right now, how soon do you think you can be at my house?"

"_Is half an hour okay?_" Emily asked. Aria was just pulling into the daycare parking lot, so she knew that half an hour was plenty of time to get home and change.

"Half an hour is great, Em." Aria agreed, getting out of her jeep and locking the doors. "I'm picking up Elliot, I'll see you soon."

When she'd finally gotten home, Emily and Maya were sitting on the front porch swing. She removed Elliot from his carseat and placed him on the ground. When the toddler spotted Emily his eyes lit up and he bolted.

"Em-lee!" He cried enthusiastically, clambering up the steps and throwing himself into Emily's arms.

"Hi." Emily giggled, returning Elliot's embrace. Emily glanced warily at Maya, but decided to wait for Aria to explain.

"Hi." Aria greeted breathlessly, smiling at her son's affections towards her friend. "I'm Aria." She reached her hand out to shake Maya's. "This is my brother, Elliot."

"Maya." The girl introduced herself. "He looks a lot like you!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Aria agreed, digging into her purse. "Here's a spare key, Em. He's not in pull-ups anymore; he'll tell you if he needs to go to the bathroom. He has snacks in the fridge and toys in the den and his bedroom."

"I've got this, Ar." Emily laughed, standing from the swing and accepting the spare key. "You go do what you need to do, Elliot and I are going to have a blast. Right, Buddy?"

"Ya!" Elliot shouted, jumping up and down with Emily's hand in his own.

"Are you sure, you'll be ok?" Aria asked, glancing from Emily to Maya. The new girl hadn't taken her eyes off of Emily and there was something familiar in her expression that made Aria curious.

"Positive." Emily nodded. Aria finally conceded, kneeling to kiss Elliot on the forehead before heading back to her car. She smiled sadly at how easily Elliot went with Emily before backing out of the drive. It wasn't that she wanted Elliot to hate Emily, but that was her baby boy and every day it seemed he needed her less and less. And for that, there wasn't a thing she could do.

Ten minutes later, Aria was raising a trembling hand to the front door of the Cavanaugh house. It was located directly across the street from Alison's old house, which Maya's family now lived in. Ironically enough, Alison had lived next door to Spencer, whom Aria could see wasn't home from whatever team activity she had been participating in today. _Thank God_.

When she finally summoned the courage to knock, she could feel her blood beginning to cool at the sound of footsteps from within. The footsteps were soon drowned out by the sound of her own pulse beating fervently in her ears. Her palms were beginning to sweat, and she felt herself resisting the urge to scratch her arms. When the door swung open, Aria could feel a lump forming in her throat. The boy standing before her looked nothing like the one that had been hauled away almost four years ago.

Toby had been an awkward thirteen-year-old. He was shorter than the other boys, and quite skinny with long shaggy hair and somewhat sunken in eyes. The Cavanaugh family had lived in Rosewood for many years, until Toby's mother passed away when he was six, before moving to New York. The winter of sixth grade, they had moved back with a new Mrs. Cavanaugh and step-sister Jenna. Toby, with his awkward looks and bizarre interests, had been an easy target for the other middle school students of Rosewood – especially Alison. Now, Aria almost couldn't believe she was looking at the same boy.

He now stood a staggering six foot, and was no longer skinny but rather muscularly built. His eyes weren't sunken in, but they still had that haunting look about them that gave Aria the chills.

"Can I help you?" Toby asked slowly, clearly unable to recognize Aria who now suddenly felt self-conscious to his gaze.

"I, uh, I-" She fumbled with her words, not sure how to begin the conversation they were bout to have.

"You look familiar." Toby stated, surveying her carefully.

"Aria." She finally said, able to collect herself. "J-Jenna told me you were back in Rosewood, so I thought I'd stop by."

"Why?" Toby suddenly became defensive, closing the door so that only his face was visible. Something in his face changed when he learned who Aria was and she was beginning to think this whole thing had been a mistake. "What do you want?"

"To apologize." Aria was careful to make sure there was no one within earshot. "My friends and I… we were horrible to you before you left. And-"

"No." Toby said firmly, opening the door a bit more. "Alison was horrible to me. You were the one with the pink hair, right?" Aria nodded in confirmation. "You were never horrible to me. You, and the other girls just let Alison be horrible to me."

"That's even worse." Aria said quietly. "Toby, do you think we could talk for a minute? There's something I need to tell you about Alison."

"She's dead." Toby said fiercely, causing Aria to jump. "I don't care to know anything more about her."

"I think you care to know this." Aria's hands were beginning to tremble as she gestured for Toby to join her on the porch. He studied her for a moment more before finally following her lead and closing the door behind him. "Do you remember anything about the night Jenna had her accident?"

"I was in my treehouse." Toby recalled. "I remember Jenna coming up to the treehouse to… talk, and then something happened. One of my fireworks went off."

"That wasn't an accident." Aria whispered. She was ashamed. She hadn't actually set off the firework, Alison had. Hell, she'd even agreed with Emily that they shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but she also hadn't done anything to stop her.

"It was Alison." Toby finished the thought. "Yeah, I know."

"You what?" Aria whipped her head up to meet his eye. "How?" 

"Look, I saw her, ok?" Toby locked eyes with Aria and the intensity was scary. "I saw her coming, from the window behind Jenna's back. And I saw the rest of you hiding in the bushes. I knew she was trying to scare me, or whatever. I also knew that Jenna was closest to the trapdoor. I was too miserable to care if I died in a fire, and I hated Jenna too much to care if she did, either."

"You _saw _Alison and you knew that firework was going to hit Jenna and you didn't try to stop her?" Aria was confused. She could understand his misery, he hadn't had any friends except his step-sister and people were cruel, but why would he allow something so horrible to happen to Jenna? "You wanted Jenna to get hurt?"

"Alison wanted me to get hurt and you didn't try to stop her." Toby countered and Aria felt the guilt beginning to creep up again.

"And you never told on us." Aria finally realized. All these years, Toby could have put them all in juvenile hall just by giving up their names and yet he hadn't. "Why not?"

"Because it doesn't change what happened to Jenna." Toby said easily. "I feel terrible _now_, she'll spend the rest of her life without her sight, but if being guilty meant I could get far away from here, then I was willing. I figured I could just run away from the boarding school, commit suicide and no one would ever have to know. Not that anyone would care."

"Toby." Aria said. He was intimidating, sure, but Aria could see what was behind all of that. A person had to be in horrible pain if they were willing to take this kind of fall just to escape, and ultimately considered suicide as an answer. "Don't say that."

"Listen." Toby dropped his already quiet voice to barely above a whisper. "Jenna doesn't know that I know. Knowing my sister, she wanted you to feel badly about it and that's why you're here. She can't do anything because nobody has proof that I _didn't_ do it, so just leave it alone."

"Why?" Aria felt herself becoming bold. She squared her shoulders and furrowed her brows, straightening her back to bring her to her full height. "Why should I leave it alone?"

"Because now that people think I'm a monster they leave me the hell alone. Which is what you need to do." Toby snapped, careful not to raise his voice. He glanced over his shoulder, back to the door. Noting that it was still closed tight, he turned back to Aria. "I appreciate the gesture, but you need to leave."

Aria didn't budge. She stood her ground, refusing to back away no matter how menacing Toby tried to be.

"Aria." Toby growled, taking a single step in her direction. His brows furrowed and his grey eyes became impossibly dark. Aria could feel the hairs at the back of her neck begin to stand up and her stomach begin to drop, but she did not stand down.

"Everything ok?" Aria and Toby both whipped their heads across the street to see Spencer getting out of her SUV. Her duffel bag was slung over her shoulder haphazardly, a stack of books in her arm and her hair thrown into a messy ponytail. Aria wasn't sure how she was able to stay sane with all of her activities, but she was thankful for the interruption.

"Fine, Spencer." Aria finally stepped away from Toby, who was backing away closer to the front door. "Everything's fine."

"Remember what I said." Toby warned. "You keep your mouth shut." Before Aria could even formulate a retort, he had slipped back into the house and locked the door. She stared after him for only moment before she turned back in Spencer's direction, stepping off of the porch and making her way across the street.

"So," Spencer said, folding her arm as best as she could with the stack of textbooks in her hands. "What's up with that?" Spencer nodded her head towards the Cavanaugh house.

"Nothing." Aria answered quickly.

"Nothing?" Spencer ticked an eyebrow. "You certainly have a thing for dangerous men."

"Spencer." Aria really didn't want to discuss this in front of the Hastings house, or at all really. Of course, she knew deep down that Spencer wouldn't stop bringing it up unless they did finally talk about it. "It's over, okay? It never really started, but it's over. Are you happy?"

"You know what, Aria?" Spencer rolled her eyes. "You're my friend and I love you, but this is all really self-destructive behavior ad honestly it's alarming."

"Spencer?" Aria and Spencer turned to see Melissa stepping out of a car. The trunk was open and it was evident that someone was removing luggage from the storage space as Melissa approached the two girls. "Aria? Well, well, well. It's been years."

"Hi, Melissa." Aria mumbled, unsure what to say. The last time she'd seen the girl had been the day after Aria had slept with her then-boyfriend.

"So, you and Wren made up?" Spencer leaned over to get a better glimpse at the figure getting Melissa's things from the car. Aria remembered Spencer telling her that they'd broken up when Melissa had caught Spencer kissing the man, and she found it almost ironic that all of Melissa's boyfriends seemed to be more attracted to her sister and her friends.

"No." Melissa said firmly before smiling widely. "Now, Spence, you can NOT tell Mom and Dad. I want to surprise them."

"Surprise them with what?" Spencer asked suspiciously. Aria suddenly felt awkward. She was about to learn a secret that was meant to stay between the sister's and she felt more than out of place.

"We eloped!" A voice answered and Aria could feel her heart stop. She literally felt that she could have been a heart attack. She knew that voice. She didn't have to be looking to know that Melissa was now married to none other than Ian Thomas. He faltered for a brief second when he saw her, though it went completely unnoticed by Melissa who was beaming with joy.

"I, uh, I gotta go. See you at school, Spence." Aria dismissed herself quickly, rushing across the street to the safety of her car. She was aware of Ian's eyes on her back as she left. Starting the ignition of the Jeep, Aria chanced a glance back towards the Hastings house. Spencer looked thoroughly shocked as she listened to Melissa prattle on about the elopement. Ian, however, had his eyes locked squarely with her own. It was unnerving. She could feel the bile rising in her throat as she tore away and sped off.

After pulling up in front of her house, she received a text. Picking up her cell she noticed that she also had a missed call from her father, a text from the number Ezra had used earlier and a text from an unknown sender. Dialing '1', she pressed the receiver to her ear and listened to her father's voicemail.

"_Aria, I'm going to be late at the office tonight. Please make sure you and Elliot eat. Don't wait up for me._" He sounded so cold, detached even. Although deep down she knew he was bringing this on himself, part of her wondered why she felt so terrible about the whole thing. Next, she read Ezra's text.

'**Still coming? I go on in an hour. Was hoping to see you before then…'**

Seeing that the message had been received over half an hour ago, Aria knew she wouldn't be making it to the reading in time. Quickly, she typed out her response.

'**Something came up, sorry… see you at school tomorrow?'**

Almost instantly his reply came to her and she felt herself smiling despite the fact that she _knew _she would be projectile vomiting the second she walked through her front door.

**I understand. You owe me, and I expect to be paid in full. See you tomorrow ;)**

She didn't bother responding, instead choosing to open her last message. There was such an ominous feeling in the atmosphere, she felt she'd much rather drown her phone in the river than read another text from her anonymous stalker.

**Poor, poor Aria… One secret after another is getting unraveled… Better look for shelter before I strip you bare. – A**

Aria quickly dialed Hanna's number. She couldn't talk to Spencer, and she didn't want to alarm Emily in front of Elliot. There wasn't much else A could do, they'd already outed she and Ezra, they'd revealed Elliot's identity, they'd even somehow exposed she and Ian. Toby had willingly taken the fall for The Jenna Thing, what more could A possibly do? Still, the situation was becoming entirely too overwhelming and Aria just wanted to scream.

"_Aria?_" Hanna answered. Clearly she had been surprised to hear from her, and rightly so. Aria hadn't really made any effort to spend too much extra time with anyone but Spencer and even then it was mostly Pre-Calc homework. "_Is something wrong?_"

"Hanna." Aria breathed out. She could feel an anxiety attack coming on and opened the car door to allow herself some fresh air. "Ian's back in town. Melissa married him and A knows _everything _and I- I don't – know – wha-what to d-do!" she sobbed dryly. Leaning over the edge of the car, Aria began to dry-heave as Hanna struggled to find the right thing to say.

"_I-uh… do you, like, want me to come over or something?_" Hanna asked, completely unsure what to do or say.

"I just can't deal with this anymore!" Aria finally was able to work up the tears that had been clogging her throat.

"_I'm on my way_."

By the time Hanna pulled up in front of the house, Emily and Maya had ventured onto the front porch with Elliot to discover Aria leaning over, crying, against her steering wheel. Hanna stepped out of her car and walked over to where the two girls were trying to comfort Aria.

"What's wrong?" Emily rubbed small circles on Aria's back, attempting in vain to soothe her.

"Ian's back." Hanna said flatly. Aria's head jolted up.

"Toby knows about The Jenna Thing." Aria said just as flatly. "He always knew. And he's the only one with any proof."

"Toby's back?" Emily's eyes grew wide. "When did he get back?" 

"This morning, I guess." Aria shrugged, finally able to calm herself down enough to hold conversation. "Or this afternoon. That's where I went after work." She said this looking only at Emily, by way of explanation. "Then Spencer showed up and then Melissa and that's when I saw Ian."

"So him and Melissa are back together?" Hanna said in disbelief. When the older Hasting had broken up with him, she had been adamant that she would never take him back. Why, then, were they together now?

"It's worse." Aria said, looking up at Hanna. She leaned over and took Elliot from Emily, allowing him to sit in her lap and rest his head on her chest. "Melissa and Ian are _married_."

"What?" Emily and Hanna exclaimed in unison.

"That's what I thought! But I couldn't speak. I couldn't even breathe." Aria rested her chin atop of Elliot's head, holding him as closely as she possibly could. "What am I going to do? I never wanted this to happen. Any of this. And now he's back and… you know who is trying to expose everything."

"I think this is where I make my exit." Maya finally spoke after being silent for the past several minutes. All three friends looked at her, almost shocked by her presence. "Look, I don't need to know about this Ian guy, or this Jenna person. I'm just going to head on home. This seems like a really private, not-meant-for-new-girl-to-hear conversation."

"I'm sorry, Maya." Emily said. Aria and Hanna shared a look. It was obviously upsetting to Emily that Maya was leaving, but really the girl _didn't_ need to know any of this. "I'll call you later?"

"Okay." Maya smiled, waving as she walked towards and Volkswagen Beetle that Aria hadn't noticed had been parked on the street. As Maya drove away, Emily and Hanna turned back to Aria attentively.

"What did Spencer say?" Hanna asked. "About the whole Ian thing? Didn't Melissa just break up with a different fiancé a few weeks ago?"

"Spencer didn't say anything." Aria shrugged. "She was just as freaked out as I was. I mean, you should have seen! He wouldn't even take his eyes off of me, it was scary."

"I bet it was scary." Hanna leaned her head against the back door of the Jeep. "What are you gonna do?"

"What does A want you to do?" Emily's forehead creased with worry.

"I don't know." Aria said honestly. "I have no idea. A's already driven my mom away; she won't answer my calls or texts… As if things could get worse with my dad, A has somehow made that happen. I don't get why they're _doing_ all of this. What does A want with me?"

"Us." Emily corrected. "A has something on all of us…"

"Em?" Hanna looked at her carefully. Something changed in Emily just then, something so small you wouldn't notice if you didn't know her. "Em, what did A do to you?"

"A told my parents something…" Emily cast her eyes to the ground. "About me and about Maya."

"I knew it!" Hanna squealed, clapping her hands together. Emily looked up, a hurt to her face that hadn't been seen before, and Aria glared. "What? Aria, you're not in sixth period with us. Emily and Maya are totally flirty lab partners."

"Han." Aria warned.

"Hey, I'm totally cool with it." Hanna raised her hands in the air in surrender. "You can't help who you fall for."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Aria grumbled, her mind wandering to Spencer's close-mindedness towards she and Ezra. Hanna looked at her questioningly, but was interrupted before she could say anything.

"So, you guys are ok with me being… whatever I am?" Emily asked hopefully.

"Emily." Aria said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We love you. If you guys can be ok with me having a baby at fourteen, I'm more than ok with you liking girls."

Emily started to cry. She wasn't sobbing, nor was she gasping for air desperately as she had been when her parents found out, she was simply allowing tears to roll down her cheeks. Hanna immediately pulled her into a tight, reassuring hug.

"Em-lee ok?" Elliot asked, pointing at Emily curiously. Aria kissed his forehead.

"Yeah, baby, Emily's ok."

"Mama ok?" The question caught Aria off guard. He hadn't seen her crying, and she knew that he didn't know anything that they were talking about, yet he knew that something was amiss.

"I don't know, Handsome." She answered honestly. There wasn't anything she could say that would make any more sense to him than that, but he seemed satisfied enough as he cuddled against her chest once again. "I don't know when things will be ok again."

**Something that never made sense to me on the show: Toby would have had to live VERY close to Ali, who lived next door/behind Spencer, in order to see into her window from the treehouse. WHY in the show is that not the case? Spencer seems to live across town from him or something in the show. And Aria would have to live fairly close in order for them to be able to hear the same sirens, right? It looks like Emily lives across the street from Maya/Ali's house, which makes sense since she was next door to Toby when his step-mom and Jenna moved in... So, THEORETICALLY they all live really, REALLY close to one another… yet they always drive to one another's house or call each other on the phone… why not just walk over? The only one that actually seems to live in another part of town is Hanna. Yet they all ACT as if they each live in a different area of Rosewood. My mind is blown. So in this story, Spencer and Ali/Maya do live next door and Toby lives across the street; Aria and Emily live in the same part of town, within walking distance from one another; and Hanna lives in a suburb farthest from the other girls.**


	11. Pink Slips and Orange Jumpsuits

**I'm so sorry, guys! I'm pathetic, I know. I probably should quit FF permanently because I suck so bad at updating… but I won't leave this unfinished! I spent much too much time mapping out the next two sequels to just stop. So, here it is.**

Friday morning, after dropping Elliot off at daycare and parking at school, Aria's phone began to ring. Spencer had called three times the night prior, and each time Aria ignored the call. She hadn't told Emily or Hanna that A had not only outed her father's affair and Aria's knowledge of it, but also her illicit affair with Ezra Fitz. Neither had called or texted after leaving her house, so she figured Spencer hadn't told them, either. Now that they knew who Ian was and that he was back in town, Aria really didn't feel much like talking about the whole situation. Reluctantly, she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

When she saw the caller I.D., she felt her heart leap. Quickly she tapped the answer key and held the phone to her ear. "Mom?"

"_Hi_." Ella replied curtly. "_Are you already at school?_"

"Yes." Aria answered, looking around to ensure that there were no teachers nearby. She didn't feel like getting detention for having her phone out. "Mom-"

"_I'm on my way._" Ella said abruptly. "_Stay at your car, you're not going to school today._"

"Mom." Aria protested. If her mother wanted to keep her out of school, that really didn't bother her because it meant she could pick up Elliot and spend the day with him, but she dreaded the thought of her mother actually coming to the school. "We need to talk."

"_Obviously._" Ella remarked sarcastically. "_I will be there in ten minutes._"

Ella didn't wait for a response before hanging up. Aria wasn't sure what to say to her mother, but she had ten minutes to figure it out. She could do one of two things: tell the truth or lie. Her parents had never brought up the police investigating Ezra, she assumed, because they believed the accusations to be idiotic. Now, though, Aria was sure her mother would be bringing it to light.

Aria climbed back into her car and dug through her purse. She still had the picture A had sent her mother, too fearful of leaving it just sitting around anywhere. They looked happy, even Elliot's face lit up; to an outsider they probably looked like a normal family having a day at the zoo. But there wasn't really anything incriminating about it. Aria could easily pass it off as happenstance. Which, if she thought about it, wasn't exactly a lie. They _did_ run into one another by complete coincidence that day. But how could she explain the looks on their faces? Aria's feelings were obvious, as were Ezra's. But, couldn't they just have been having a good time? It made sense, Ezra was very close in age to the students, and he was actually very friendly with almost all of them. He even had the numbers of several students involved in the Writer's Guild and Poetry Club, which had been his alibi when Wilden had seen that Aria's name was in his contact list. Thankfully those students had even said good things about Ezra's character, and his phone records hadn't been obtained. Yet.

A sharp tapping on her passenger window caused her to start. There stood Spencer, a frantic look in her eyes that had the hairs on the back of Aria's neck standing on end. Aria unlocked her doors and gestured for Spencer to get in.

"Do you not know how to answer your phone?" Spencer said shrilly. "I've called a dozen times!"

"Did it not occur to you that I don't want to talk about it?" Aria answered; annoyed that Spencer couldn't take the hint.

"Sorry, Aria, but I really needed to talk to you." Spencer said. "Ian and Melissa-"

"Spencer, I know you hate all of my terrible decision-making," Aria interrupted. "But you can _not_ tell him about Elliot."

"But-"

"Spence." Aria said firmly. "Someday, in the distant future when I'm over eighteen and Elliot wants to know about him, I will find a way to get in touch with Ian but he cannot know right now."

"Aria, you're not listening!" Spencer shouted. "Ian was asking about you. He cornered me in the kitchen and said he'd seen you around town with Elliot which means he's been here for a while."

"What did you say?" Aria asked thickly, a knot forming in her chest. "What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything!" Spencer replied. "Melissa came back into the kitchen and obviously he can't say anything about it in front of her."

Aria could tell her face was paling. She always knew Ian would find out about Elliot, eventually. She had just always hoped it would be on her own terms. "Has he said anything since last night?"

"Not yet." Spencer said. "But you should know that he's suspicious as hell right now. He's a certified genius; he's going to put two and two together. I just want to make sure you're prepared for when that comes to fruition. And who knows, maybe you can collect child sup-"

"No!" Aria insisted. "I don't want his money. I don't want anything from him."

*PLL*

Aria sat across the kitchen table from Ella, who had picked her up in the parking lot mere minutes after Spencer had warned her of Ian's suspicions. They'd been sitting, silently, for almost an hour now and Aria didn't know whether her mother was angry, or just thinking.

"Can you explain to me," Ella said finally, startling Aria. "how it is you knew for three years about your father's affair and not once thought I should know?"

Aria mulled this over. Really, her father had no precedence for making her keep the secret from her mother. She had done it simply because her father had asked. Then she became pregnant and didn't have the heart to break her mother's heart anymore than it already had been. Not to mention what an impending divorce would have done to Mike. She needed her family to be together.

"I got pregnant, not long after I found out." Aria said quietly, looking down at her hands which sat folded together on the table. "I couldn't do_ that_ to you, too."

"You didn't _do _this." Ella said sharply, annoyance laced in her voice. "Your father did this."

"I didn't want to break your heart."

"Aria, haven't you learned by now that I could never love you any less?" Aria still couldn't find a way to look her mother in the eyes, she was afraid that if she did, tears would surely form. "Now tell me, honestly, what the _hell_ is going on in this picture. I swear to God, Aria, if you lie to me and there is _any_ truth to that rumor that was going around the school you're protecting him in any way-"

"It's nothing like that, Mom!" Aria interjected, desperately. "We ran into each other. He took one look at Elliot and he knew that he wasn't my baby brother. And you know what? He didn't care that I'm a teenage mother." Aria paused for a moment, pleased that she had at least caught her mother's attention. "He _listened._ And I'm not blind, I mean, look at him! Every girl at school thinks he's gorgeous. I'd be lying if I said I didn't agree. But it is definitely not like _that_. It's just… nice, to have someone besides you to talk to about Elliot. I can't even tell the girls. It's just nice to have a friend."

"Aria, he's not your friend," Ella said accusingly. "He is your teacher. And while I can appreciate you being able to trust and confide in him, it's inappropriate to be that friendly with one of your educators."

"We aren't 'friendly'," Aria shot back. "It's just nice that for once, there is someone in this town that doesn't judge me and I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not when I'm talking to him."

"Aria." Ella said firmly. "I understand that you've been needing someone to talk to, I really, really do, but this type of friendship is something that can ruin both your reputation and his."

"There isn't anything going on." Aria insisted. "He's just my teacher."

"And I'm sure there are several other _woman_ teachers at the school that would be happy to listen." Ella said calmly. "I just don't know how comfortable I am with you sharing this sort of information with him."

"So the problem isn't that I'm talking to a teacher, but that the teacher is a man?"

"Aria," Ella said, frustrated. "He's young. He's handsome, you said so yourself, and he's already had rumors spreading about him. I understand how difficult this situation is for you, but sweetheart, there are consequences for this type of… relationship. As innocent as the whole thing is, he could lose his job and ruin any chances he has of getting another."

Aria decided then, that it was best to leave well enough alone. As long as she had convinced her mother that their friendship really was innocent, then she had done her job.

"Look, Mom, I don't know who sent you that letter," Aria said as she stood from the table. "But a lot of kids at my school have older siblings at Hollis. Everyone seems to know about Dad's affair. And now they're trying to make it seem like I'm taking the same route that he did."

Ella bowed her head, clearly ashamed that this was only news to her, and that everyone else seemed to know of her husbands indiscretions. Aria carefully reached across the table and picked up her mother's car keys.

"If I'm not going to be at school, can I take your car to go get Elliot?" She asked carefully. "I just don't see the point in him being at daycare if he can be with me."

"No," Ella said, pushing her hair behind her ears as she stood up. "I'll drive you back to the school so you can get your car, then I need to head to the gallery."

Aria handed her mother the car keys and they spent the next fifteen minutes in complete silence, both of their minds going over the conversation they'd just shared.

*PLL*

Aria stood at the kitchen counter cutting and peeling apple slices and placing them one-by-one into a small bowl along with a small spoonful of peanut butter. Elliot sat on the floor of the kitchen coloring inside of a book, giggling every now and then and babbling to his mother happily.

"I color!" He said clearly after a few minutes. "I color, I eat!"

"Yeah," Aria agreed as she added chopped celery sticks to the bowl before sitting down on the floor with him and placing the bowl in front of him. "You're coloring and now you're going to eat."

"Mama eat?" Elliot said, pointing to Aria who shook her head.

"Mama's not hungry, Babe."

"Mama! Eat!" Elliot insisted, lifting a celery stick and holding it out to her. "Mamaaaa! Eat!"

"Ok, ok." Aria conceded finally. "Mama will eat something, too."

She made herself a bowl of fruit and joined her son on the floor, munching happily as he continued to babble on about daycare. Eventually, he slowed his speech until he had run out of words to say.

"Do you want to go see Ezra tonight?" She whispered, as if her mother would hear if she spoke too loud. "He's going to read a story that he wrote about that time we all got to play at the zoo, remember?"

"Zoo?" Elliot lifted his head up enthusiastically. Aria could help but imagine a small puppy with it's ear perked up as it's owner whistled and she smiled at the thought.

"Say 'Ezra'," She drew his name out, emphasizing each letter as best as she could.

"Ezzaaaaahhh." Elliot repeated proudly, bobbing his chin excitedly.

"Yeah, Ezra." Aria sighed contentedly. "That's who we're going to see tonight. Mommy just needs to find a way to sneak you out of here."

*PLL*

"Everything she'd known disappeared, drifting off into the summer sky." Ezra read the final line of the short story he'd prepared for the reading. He locked eyes with Aria, who sat at a table alone with Elliot in her lap, before saying "thank you."

As the crowd began to cheer, she and Elliot joined in excitedly. The story had been brief - the reading lasting no more than five minutes, but it was beautiful. It was about a girl who mused upon the meaning of life as she wrote a message to her now deceased mother on a balloon. She struggled with letting go of the balloon, knowing that it would make everything seem more real but had eventually sent it into the heavens completely blank.

"He doesn't suck, huh?" It took Aria a moment to realize that a young man, about Ezra's age, was talking to her. "You know this guy?"

"He's, uh," Aria wondered if he, too, knew Ezra. She wasn't sure what they were, exactly, but she knew that if this man was close to Ezra, then she was best just to stay safe. "He's my English teacher."

"Very cool." The man said in response. "Me and him go way back. We used to sleep together."

Aria's eyes grew wide and she instinctively covered Elliot's ears. "Excuse me?"

"Bunk beds." He said quickly, covering his tracks when he realized what he'd said. She relaxed, moving her hands from Elliot's ears to around his waist. "College. We were roommates. You got a name, Fan Girl?" He stood from his bar stool and reached out to shake her hand. She accepted with a smile.

"I'm Aria, and this is Elliot." Elliot reached his own hand out and shook hands with the stranger.

"Hardy." He responded, shaking the toddler's hand gently.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing here?" Ezra said interrupting them before pulling his friend in for a bro-hug.

"Just wanted to get some face time with the president of your fan club, apparently." Hardy put his arm around Ezra's shoulder and Aria found herself feeling a bit embarrassed. Until now, she hadn't paid much attention, but it had just struck her how young she looked in this crowd.

"You two know each other?" Ezra looked panicked for a brief moment but covered it will with his pearly smile.

"Yeah, but not as well as you two know each other." She said with a grin before adding playfully "I heard about the bunk beds."

"We just met, but I'm glad I sat next to her. Little man kept throwing fries at me so I wouldn't snore."

Aria laughed, but was glad that Hardy wasn't judging her for having a child. He must have known she was in high school, considering that was what Ezra taught.

"No, seriously," Ezra interrupted, looking frantically between the two of them. "How did you know about this?"

"I don't live in a cave?" Hardy said sarcastically. "I saw it on the website. Thought it was my duty to come here and heckle you."

"Maybe you should be in a cave." Ezra said wittily before turning to Aria. "Was it really that bad?"

"It was beautiful!" Aria assured him. "I mean, that metaphor at the end?"

"That was a metaphor?" Hardy feigned confusion, pulling a giggle from Aria. "I thought it was really about a kid who lost her balloon."

"You also thought Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was Mexican porn."

"Jerk."

"Get this," Ezra said, a smile finally reappearing on his face. "He used to pay me in frozen burritos to write his papers."

"You know what would be so great?" Hardy interrupted. Aria couldn't help but smile at the friendship between the two. It was not unlike that between herself and the girls. "If you told this same lame story while I had a beer in my hand. I'm grabbing a waitress!"

As Hardy excused himself, Ezra stepped closer before sitting down at the table across from Aria.

"I didn't know he was going to be here or I would have warned you." He said apologetically.

"It's fine." Aria said, shaking her head. "I should have realized that you might have friends that would want to support you. I didn't say anything about us, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's not-"

"Alright!" Hardy cut them off as he maneuvered through the crowd. "I've got a pitcher of Bud Light for the grown ups, a Root Beer for Fan Girl and some orange for the little guy."

"Thanks." Aria smiled. "You really didn't have to."

"It's no big deal." Hardy shrugged as he sat the tray down on the table and sat into the seat in between them. "I figured root beer and orange soda was as good a bribe as any to hear about class with Z."

"Z?" Aria furrowed her brows and turned to Ezra.

"My nickname in college." He waved his hand dismissively. "I see Hardy over here is just airing all of my dirty laundry."

"Mama, I eat?" Elliot, who had been very quiet and patient up until now, looked up at Aria and rubbed his belly. Ezra and Hardy looked at each other awkwardly until Aria stood up and moved Elliot to her hip.

"Yeah, you're gonna eat." She said as she dug through her purse with her free hand for her wallet. "I'm going to get him something, do you guys want anything?"

"No, thank you." Ezra shook his head, and Aria knew he was just being polite in front of his friend.

"I'll have the chili cheese fries." Hardy said as he poured himself a glass from the pitcher.

"Hardy!" Ezra smacked him lightly on the back of his head. "Taking advantage of my student, really?"

"She offered!" Hardy laughed. "I bought drinks, Fan Girl gets food!"

"I'll be right back." Aria said, heading towards the register to order their food. When she got there she ordered a small basket of mozzarella sticks and a medium order of chili cheese fries. She was handed an order ticket with the number 68 on it and thanked the waitress. As she and Elliot pushed their way through the bars patrons, she saw Hardy and Ezra leaned over in an intense discussion. She could see that Hardy was angry, and though she couldn't see Ezra's face, she guessed he wasn't too pleased by the conversation, either. Carefully she drew closer, careful to stay hidden in the crowd until she was within earshot.

"I didn't pursue this!" She heard Ezra say. "It just happened."

"So that justifies it, then?" Hardy scoffed. "She is your student. And the kid? You must really want to be thrown in jail, huh? Please tell me that boy isn't yours, Z, because that is just sick. She's all of what? Fifteen?"

"Of course he's not! And she's almost sixteen." Ezra corrected.

"Like that makes it much better." She caught a glimpse of Hardy between two women's heads for a moment. Just long enough to see him bury his head in his hands. "You know I'm your best friend, and I would bail you out of jail in a heartbeat, but not if you go to jail for _this_. You want to say I'm taking advantage of her? What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm not-"

"Look, man, you're like a brother to me, but at the end of this thing she's going to get a diploma and you're going to have a pink slip and an orange jumpsuit."

Ezra didn't respond and Aria could feel her throat beginning to ache. Of course that's what this looked like to someone on the outside, but that wasn't what they were doing. Still, Aria couldn't stand that Ezra was being put in this position because she had come to this reading. Quickly she swallowed the tears that were trying to form and continued on to the table.

"Hey, guys." She announced her presence, causing both Ezra and Hardy to give her a forced smile. She placed the order ticket on the table. "Elliot's not feeling well, but you guys can feel free to his mozzarella sticks. I'm just going to take him home."

"Are you sure?" Hardy asked, though Aria doubted that he cared whether she stuck around or not.

"Is everything ok?" Ezra stood from his seat, clearly worried about Elliot.

"It's fine. I just have to go." She said, grabbing her purse and slinging over her free shoulder. "It was… nice meeting you, Hardy. See you Monday, Mr. Fitz."

"Bye." Hardy gave a slight wave, as did Ezra as she turned away. As she continued out of the bar, Elliot lifted his head off of her shoulder slightly and waved his small, pudgy hand.

"Bye bye, Ezzah."

**I feel like this is pretty rushed, but I woke up this morning and HAD to put something out because I've been a bad, bad FF writer. I'm not going to promise when, but I'm working on finishing this, and Bound Not By Blood by the end of the year. I have so many plans that I never follow through with. My New Years Resolution this year was to stop that, and I want to accomplish it (even if only by FanFiction) before the year is up! Thanks for sticking with me, guys! :)**


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